History Of First Aid

The origins of what is known as first aid in western culture was in a hospital in eleventh century Jerusalem attached to the church of St. John the Baptist. This hospital was originally set up by Italian merchants from Amalfi as an aid station for pilgrims to the Holy Land. After the European Crusaders took over Jerusalem in 1099, more hospitals of this nature were established in various cities along the trade routes.

In 1113 the hospitals were placed under papal protection. In 1120 Raymond de Puy, the director of these hospitals, expanded on the hospital's functions. With the increased need for organization between them there was eventually created the Order of the Knights Hospitallers. Although the crusades to free the Holy Land from Muslim occupation failed, the Knights Hospitaller and the Order of St. John grew in their influence of medical care until in the present day the Order of St. John continues running many hospital and ambulance services worldwide.

At the First International Geneva Convention in 1863 the Order of St. John, under the direction of Dr. John Furley, establish the first official "Red Cross". Taking their logo from the symbol of the crusader knights, the new organization was dedicated to "aid sick and wounded soldiers in the field". Eight years later, Clara Barton led the campaign in Washington, D.C. to create the American Red Cross.

Developments in the emergency treatment of wounds were swift to follow. In 1872 the British introduced the litter for carrying wounded to aid stations. Dubbed "the St. John's Ambulance", an association of medical practitioners began forming classes to train people in emergency treatments in 1877. From this training class the term "First Aid" was coined in 1878 by Dr. Peter Shepherd. This was the first textbook to cover emergency treatment for civilians as well as emergency wartime injuries.

Other notable events in the history of first aid came in 1883 when the horse drawn ambulance was created and the early 1900's when "medicine chests", storage cases with wound dressings, disinfectants and other miscellaneous items, began to be created and kept in convenient locations. By the 1970's the American Red Cross was popularizing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training for use on heart attack and drowning victims. The Office of Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) created set guidelines for workplace safety and first aid in 1972, and with the publication of "Advanced First Aid" in 1979, the Red Cross definitively set up procedures for professional first responders.