IN HER weekend job as a nurse in the intensive care unit of a private hospital, Lucy Clarke has seen her belief confirmed time and time again.
Everyone, irrespective of age, background or level of education, should learn first aid. Because, she warns, everyone will need to use it at some point in their lives.
Clarke practises what she preaches. Since this summer, she has taught close to 300 people how to give emergency treatment, structuring her classes according to their needs: for the school, office, home, factory and playing field.
Clarke realised there was a need for such first aid courses and kits soon after she arrived five years ago. As a professional sailor, she was the one her crew mates turned to for first aid kits specifically created for boats when they couldn't find anything locally.
Demand grew not just for emergency supplies that might be needed while on the water but also for homes and industries, so Clarke set up her company, Fast-Aid, in 1993. She now also represents the US-based International Safety Council in Hong Kong.
Working with a team of trained staff, she compiles wall-mountable boxes filled with supplies relevant to the need. There are basic dressings and anti-seasickness pills for pleasure vessels that seldom venture beyond local waters; and for potentially more urgent situations there is equipment you would find in a small surgery.
Among Clarke's most popular kits is one designed for travellers to developing countries: this includes sterile syringes and infusion equipment which can be used by doctors in foreign hospitals for additional hygiene, or basic boxes of medicine for diarrhoea, travel sickness and pain.