“I’m IMPRESSED!” …　LSO Life Supporting First Aid – Basic Skills Course　December 19th,2010

Nine members of WIMA Japan attended the Life Supporting First Aid Basic Skills course held by LSO (Motorsport Life Saving Organization) on December 19th in Tokyo.

I haven’t sat through any learning experience lasting more than an hour in many years, and the entire 9-hour program (including 1-hour lunch time) seemed a little ambitious. But despite all my reservations, the long hours went by fast while kneeling over the CPR doll named “Anne” and trying to revive her. Of course, that’s not the only thing we did, as you can see, and we all had a great time.

すごいぞ！LSO講習会

１２月１９日（日曜日）に東京・大田区「文化の森」で開講されたＬＳＯの講習会にメンバー９人で参加しました。「緊急時の応急手当と事故防止」を趣旨とした９時間（途中１時間のランチタイムを含む）という１日がかりの講習会。

１時間以上勉強するのは○○年ぶりという私は、参加表明したものの終了まで覚醒していられるか内心不安だったのですが、いざ始まると「おもしろい！」「なるほど！」「楽しい！」。座っている時間はほんの僅かで、様々な事故を想定しながら床に敷かれた毛布にひざまずいたり寝転んだりしてファーストエイド（応急手当）をみっちり練習しました。

ＬＳＯは、モータースポーツに携わる人たちに応急手当のノウハウを広めるため、独自の認定プログラムで講習会を定期的に開催しています。インストラクターは、プロのラリードライバーや、サーキットのオフィシャルなど、まさにこんな人たちから教わりたいと思う方々。実際の経験談もとても参考になります。

LSO holds classes like these regularly to promote first-aid skills for people related to motorsports. The instructors are people with carriers in motorsports, like a professional rally-driver, or a racing-circuit officials, with interesting stories to tell from their actual experiences.

The program teaches a lot of what is necessary to feel confident in case of emergency. It would be great if I can maintain the level of skills I learned. “I am trained to give first-aid. Let me help you.” Wouldn’t you like to be able to say these words to an injured person? I would.

I also felt a strong passion toward exonerating the prejudice against motorcycles that we all felt at one time or another. But, imagine the future when most of the riders have the trained first-aid skills. In the cities, or on the back-roads in the countryside, people wave to stop motorcycle riders in hopes of being rescued. This is the vision the LSO strives for, and I completely empathized.

今回の受講で感じたこと

まず、「いざ」という時、「これだけの知識は持っていたい」と思う事を教えてもらえた！この知識は継続して持っていたいと感じました。最初に負傷者にかけるのは、「私は手当の訓練を受けましたので、協力させて下さい」という相手を安心させる言葉です。いざという時、これが言えたらいいと思いませんか？

熱い思い

さらに・・・それは、講習会を通じて伝わってくるＬＳＯのモータースポーツへの熱い思いです。ライダーなら一度は感じるバイクへの偏見。でも、ライダーの大半がレスキューのノウハウを持っている時代が来るとすれば、イメージは全く違ってくるでしょう。

街中で、あるいは田舎道で手当が必要となった…そんな時、「ライダーなら応急手当ができる」と、通りがかりのバイクに手を振る。それがＬＳＯの１つのビジョンだと聞き、感動しました。

Some comments from the WIMA members

“Very useful!” “Good material from the rider’s point-of-view.”

“I may be able to assist the person helping me when I have an accident. I’m seriously considering the remover hood.”

“It covers beyond the general first-aid, including application for motorcycle riders. I strongly recommend many people to take the course.”

“This can also be useful in everyday life.”

“It helped me remember what I’ve forgotten since I took the course last. Thinking what I may be able to do for the fellow riders throughout the course made it a better experience.”

Some of us also enjoyed a little get-together, talking about the Japan Rally over tea. If you haven’t had the chance to take the LSO first-aid class, I recommend that you do. I’m almost certain that it would add a positive essence to your motorcycling life.

Motorsport Life Saving Organization (LSO) homepage

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/master/lso/index.html　(in Japanese only)