A Perth, Western Australian man has been recognised for his rescue work on September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Centre in New York. Adam Perkins, a former lifeguard, used his first aid training to help set up a makeshift triage as well as assisting fire fighters and emergency workers.

He said he spent most of his first day at Ground Zero cleaning the eyes of the fire fighters as they went back and forth in search of survivors.”That was a big problem, dust was tearing their eyes apart,” Perkins said. Later, acting as a runner between triage units and morgues, Perkins passed on messages between emergency officials before working on ‘bucket brigade’ to help remove rubble.

Then while he was helping fire fighters remove debris, a hole opened up and Perkins, with a smaller frame than the fire fighters, was the obvious choice to go in to search for survivors.”I took my helmet off and I crawled in,” he said. Ten years later, Perkins says sometimes it feels like yesterday, “Then sometimes it doesn’t seem real at all.”

He now lives in Bullcreek, Western Australia. Poor first aid better than none, experts say First aid companies today are more aware than ever of the near-total lack of first aid training among the general public, with many victims left lying where they fall until professional help arrives. Typically, there will be passers-by and others who could help, but lack of knowledge and lack of confidence means nothing is done.” At a bare minimum, victims should be rolled onto their side, into the recovery position,” one First Aider says. “Never leave someone lying face down.”

Experts also say it’s better to provide ‘poor’ CPR than none at all. It needs to be done very soon after the person has gone into cardiac arrest or survival rates fall to low single digit percentages, they say.Zimbabwe’s public transport drivers to have first aid training.