The employees and support personnel of the Port Management Office of Misamis Oriental/Cagayan de Oro (PMO MO/C) received another round of Basic First Aid Seminar conducted by the Emergency Medical Services Unit of Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Cagayan de Oro Fire District Station 1 on 03 October 2019.

The PMO annually conducts this kind of seminar to its employees in partnership with agencies such as BFP and the Department of Health as part of its commitment to health and safety under its Integrated Management System. The PMO recognizes the importance of acquiring knowledge about basic first aid amongst its employees in view of the nature of work at the Port especially those who are working in the operation area. Additionally, the personnel themselves who underwent the seminar can provide basic first aid to the seaport passengers or co-workers in times of emergencies (e.g. seizure attacks, heatstroke) and/or properly handle individuals with an injury.

The first half of the seminar was a lecture from the BFP team led by SFO1 Victor N. Mantuhac, PTRP. Members of the BFP team took turns in discussing the topics on the kinds of wounds, types of burns, heat exhaustion, allergy attacks, and seizures and how to immediately respond to these. The second half was the practical application/ demonstration on how to properly bandage different kinds of injuries around the body, and do the Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and proper chest compression. The participants paired up to demonstrate the methods to each other.

The experience and knowledge gained from the activity were new to newly-hired PMO personnel while the seminar served as “refresher” for those who had attended the same in the previous years. —by IMR Lam