Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Dummy Rescue

On Saturday I attended a CPR/First Aid class through Red Cross. I needed to get certified for work.

Did you know that CPR has changed? I took a class as a teenager but it was very different.

For example, there should be 30 compressions to every 2 breaths. 10 years ago it was only 15 compressions. Do you have any idea how easy it is to get distracted while counting to 30. I kept losing track of what number I was on. How embarrassing!

Also, when you find an unconscious person (because they are just lying around sometimes) you don't check their pulse. Apparently there isn't a need to. If someone is unconscious and not breathing 90% of the time it's a cardiac issue. You just start doing CPR.

We also learned how to use an AED (Automatic External Defibrillator). That's right, I got to shock my very own dummy! Now I can't say for sure but I think he made it.

So, I'd like to make a plug for CPR certification. If you are rusty--take a class--it may be a little different than what you remember. You can also get certified online. Check it out:

http://www.redcross.org/services/hss/courses/



P.S. Here is a picture of us in our Halloween costumes. A ward member took it at Trunk or Treating. (We got a picture of my Lucille Ball costume after all.)

4 comments:

Melanie said...

wow, that's so interesting that it's changed! i wonder at what point you decide that the old way isn't working??...so glad you got a lucy picture, you're adoreable!

Buppa H said...

Great costumes. Thanks for the tip on CPR. It's been a long time since I had the training. Time to do it again.

Shelley said...

I had a CPR instructor tell me something very profound. He said, "If a person isn't breathing and doesn't have a pulse, what are they?"
Then he answered his question, "They are dead. When performing CPR, you are trying to improve upon dead. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't." It was very profound. Of course the way he said it made me laugh my guts out.

momomom said...

I heard about the CPR changes just last week or so - the trainer was saying that AED's are what save peoples' lives. They were brainstorming saying that it would make a great Eagle Project or something to try and get an AED in every public school or something - mind you, these guys are the team docs for HS football teams in Bountiful, so they were really passionate about the best care not being available to everyone.

Anyways.

You look adOrABle in your Lucy costume! So inventive. My pics of us as ninja turtles is probably my best Halloween costume picture ever.
love,Tiff