First Aid During a Seizure

Short film “First aid”.
What to do if someone has an epileptic seizure? Rosa learns in this short film: It’s easier than you think. Switzerland 2019.

First aid during an epileptic seizure is easier than most people think – the message conveyed in a short film produced by the Swiss League Against Epilepsy in collaboration with the Swiss Federation of Samaritans

View video: In Swiss German, with English subtitles

Calling an ambulance – that's what most people think of when it comes to helping with a major epileptic seizure. But that's certainly not the first thing to do. The first thing to do is to quickly protect the victim from injury by removing dangerous objects from the way and putting something under his head. Paramedics are not necessary in every case - often the seizure is over faster than they can come.

In the almost three-minute film, an elderly lady learns this lesson and makes the audience smile. The young man with the seizure is the singer, performer, and former gymnast Lucas Fischer, who himself has epilepsy. "Such projects are extremely important to me," he said during the shooting. "It's a way to break down inhibitions and remove taboos from the subject of epilepsy."

"We want to draw attention to a frequent and mostly invisible disease – many people don't even know that around 70,000 to 80,000 people in Switzerland live with epilepsy," says Prof. Dr. Stephan Rüegg, President of the Swiss Epilepsy League. "Anyone who is confronted with a seizure does not need to know much to prevent serious injuries."

Read more about seizure first aid from the Swiss League Against Epilepsy