Members of the Red Cross Club at Hangzhou Normal University practice CPR skills at an on-campus experience kiosk. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Gearing up for the gala

As Hangzhou and five other cities nearby prepare to host the 19th Asian Games from Sept 23 to Oct 8, Lin said that more events will be rolled out targeting volunteers for the sporting gala, covering more complicated first-aid techniques. The classes will include the use of automated external defibrillators, aka AEDs, to deliver electric shocks to people having heart attacks.

The city's push to build first-aid preparedness and response capacity has accelerated since June 2021, when the Central Guidance Commission on Building Spiritual Civilization designated the city's first-aid campaign as one of its grassroots-level trial projects designed to offer experience and lessons that can be promoted nationwide.

The Hangzhou authorities later released a guideline that aimed to improve training in first-aid knowledge and skills among people, equipping public facilities with AEDs and other essential equipment, and integrating the city's ambulance dispatch system, the first-aid volunteer information system and information about AED placement. So far, about 350,000 people in Hangzhou have received first-aid certificates.

The city has a population of about 12.4 million, meaning that three in every 100 people are capable of delivering assistance, local authorities said.

They added that about 100,000 certified individuals have become first-aid volunteers, meaning that if an emergency occurs in their vicinity, the city's emergency service command system will decide whether the situation requires volunteers to rush there. "Since June 2021, such volunteers have given successful first-aid treatment to more than 20 patients," they said.