First Aid for Farmers

The Local and Immigrant Farmer Education Program (LIFE) and Risk Management Hawaii recently teamed up with the East County Farm Bureau to offer an educational session on first aid awareness. Many of Hawai‘i’s farms are located in remote areas that are distant from any medical facility and are even hard to reach for emergency medical technicians and ambulance vehicles. Accidents do happen, despite having risk management strategies in place, and they can often result in lost time, unexpected medical costs, and sometimes workers’ compensation for employees, as well as the risk of injury. The workshop covered lifesaving strategies, basic bleeding control, splinting, and injuries involved in the agricultural arena, as well as providing hands-on practice in proper bandaging techniques.