ESL Podcast 306 - Giving First Aid
nurse - a medical professional who helps a doctor; a person who provides basic medial services, but isn't as highly trained and educated as a doctor
If you like taking care of people, but you don't want to be a medical student for six years, you might want to become a nurse.
aide - an assistant; a person whose job is to help another person
In many schools, a teacher's aide helps the teacher work with students and do other classroom tasks.
first aid - basic medical treatment; medical help given to someone before that person can be taken to a hospital or doctor's office
Francine is taking a first aid class to learn what to do if her children get hurt.
injury - damage or harm done to a person's body
Vincent was in a bad car accident and he was relieved when the doctor told him he had only a minor neck injury.
poison ivy - a plant whose leaves have a chemical that makes people's skin red, itchy, and painful when they touch it
Don't touch that plant! It's poison ivy.
bee sting - a very small hole made in one's skin by the sharp part of a bee's body, so that the skin around it become red, itchy, and painful
Chuck got three bee stings on his arms while he was picking blackberries.
bug bite - a very small hole made in one's skin by an insect's mouth, so that the skin around it becomes red, itchy, and painful
Ingrid woke up with bug bites on her legs. There must have been a spider in her bed.
scraped knee - a knee where some of the skin has been rubbed off, leaving painful red skin and blood on the knee
Ashley has scraped knees because she fell off of her bicycle while she was wearing shorts.
unconscious - without consciousness; not aware of what is happening around oneself because one is hurt and seems to be asleep
After Zack was hit on the head with a baseball, he was unconscious for almost five minutes.
pulse - heartbeat or heart rate; the speed and strength of blood moving through one's body, so that it can be felt through the skin over one's wrists and neck
After running for 20 minutes, the runner felt her pulse to see how quickly her heart was beating.
CPR - cardiopulmonary resuscitation; when a person is not breathing, trying to keep that person alive by pushing on his or her chest over the heart and blowing air into his or her mouth
Horace saved Jackie's life by performing CPR after she was kicked by a horse.
to breathe - to move air in and out of one's lungs; to move air in and out of one's body
It's difficult to breathe when you're high in the mountains because there isn't very much oxygen.
concussion - the loss of consciousness when one is hit hard in the head; the period of time when one is not aware of anything after one has been hit on the head
Sammy fell out of a tree and had a concussion that lasted an entire day.
superficial - only on the surface; not internal; not serious
Maggie has a superficial burn on her hand, but the doctor said it isn't anything to worry about.
wound - an injury; a hole in the skin so that blood comes out
Kelly has a wound on her leg from where the dog bit her.
bleeding - the action of blood (a red liquid) coming out of one's body
When Shane cut his face while shaving, there was a lot of bleeding, even though the cut wasn't very deep.
to bandage (someone or something) up - to put a cloth on someone's injury to make it stop bleeding
Reggie bandaged up his hand with an old shirt and then asked his friend to drive him to the hospital.
stitch - a small line of thread that doctors use to sew two pieces of skin together around a cut or other injury
Brook had to have nine stitches on her foot after she stepped on broken glass.
hazardous - dangerous; unsafe; not safe
The label on the cigarettes said that smoking is hazardous for your health.