CPR: You dont know till it happens

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by skiezo

It turns out the guy did not have a heart attack but his heart did stop due to dehydration and over excursion. I forget what they called it. I just heard from the local PD and he is doing well. They wanted to know if they could post on the PD FB page but im not looking for any recognition, just trying to do the next right thing for humanity these days. The PD did give mine and the other person that helped our info to the person that went down. Maybe he will reach out and say thanks.

awesome. good karma points in the bank for you two. Best Paceline story in a while.

[smontanaro]

Good work. You never know when that will come in handy. Regarding CPR in high school, I don't know if it's a geographic or age thing, but I don't recall learning it in HS (1971 grad in San Jose, CA). I also worked as a lifeguard during college. I don't recall CPR as part of Red Cross lifesaving back then, maybe just a casual intro. The only "recertification" I recall during the time I was a guard was swimming 400m in under seven minutes (?) at the start of each term in college. There was no skills practice as I recall.

Things have changed dramatically. I work (again) as a lifeguard part-time at the local YMCA. Though we have only a four-hour per month shift requirement, we have a required two-hour in-service session each month, at which one of the main points of focus is CPR. We have essentially two groups of lifeguards, old farts like me who tend to guard during the day when the other group – HS and college students – obviously can't. I'm away right now (in Italy, rode L'Eroica a week ago, doing the more normal tourist thing now ), but I'll ask what CPR training is available to our HS age guards outside of their Red Cross lifesaving course.

Edit: Our aquatics team confirmed that at least some of the high school age lifeguards who enter the YMCA's hiring process having already completed requirements (lifesaving, CPR) through their high school coursework.

[marciero]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Many useless things taught at school these days.

Robust CPR and first aid, along with practical personal finance would really go a long way to setting kids up for real life.

It is crazy that you can graduate HS knowing how to cut open a frog and trigonometry but not know life saving CPR, basic nutrition information or understand how compound interest works.

That may be true but I wouldnt count basic science and math among them.

Kudos to the OP.

[redir]

Originally Posted by thwart

Here’s a little refresher for those of us who have been trained in CPR, but may be a little hazy on some of the fine points.

Did you mean to post a link?

Originally Posted by skiezo

It turns out the guy did not have a heart attack but his heart did stop due to dehydration and over excursion. I forget what they called it. I just heard from the local PD and he is doing well. They wanted to know if they could post on the PD FB page but im not looking for any recognition, just trying to do the next right thing for humanity these days. The PD did give mine and the other person that helped our info to the person that went down. Maybe he will reach out and say thanks.

Wonderful!!! You saved a life.

[thwart]

Originally Posted by redir

Did you mean to post a link?

The image makes it one step easier.

[cp43]

Originally Posted by thwart

The image makes it one step easier.

I don't see an image or a link in your earlier post.
I'm at work though, so perhaps IT is blocking it.

Chris

[Hilltopwalters]

Originally Posted by skiezo

It turns out the guy did not have a heart attack but his heart did stop due to dehydration and over excursion. I forget what they called it. I just heard from the local PD and he is doing well. They wanted to know if they could post on the PD FB page but im not looking for any recognition, just trying to do the next right thing for humanity these days. The PD did give mine and the other person that helped our info to the person that went down. Maybe he will reach out and say thanks.

My man. Well done.

[thwart]

Originally Posted by cp43

I don't see an image or a link in your earlier post.
I'm at work though, so perhaps IT is blocking it.

Chris

Here’s a link, Chris: https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/...Adult_2020.pdf

[benb]

Nice job... I was a Lifeguard/WSI back in the day. I did a lot of rescues but amazingly never saw a passive victim that required CPR when I was working. (I did see one when I was a kid) The places I worked were generally on top of things and we got people out fast.

I was in HS in the 1990s and definitely CPR in HS was not a thing.

I have still been getting certified over the years and I'm on the office "first aid emergency team" or whatever it is called.

I am still very paranoid about doing it right if I have to do it.

I have contemplated getting re-certified for the swimming stuff to make sure my son actually learns to swim "properly". Swimming is in a doom loop here. Far fewer places to swim, far fewer lifeguards, far far harder to find good instruction, so it's harder for facilities to find guards, etc, etc.. and so on and so on. But they've made it so hard to get certified again. I would basically have to take a week off fork and go to the course M-F 9AM-5PM. And they are usually during the school year, so it seems even harder for younger people to take the course. IIRC that is the only course left in MA for Red Cross WSI.

[cp43]

Originally Posted by thwart

Here’s a link, Chris: https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/...Adult_2020.pdf

Thank you. That's good info!

[Spaghetti Legs]

Good CPR and early defibrillation will save lives. Good job to OP for helping out! I will take this opportunity to put a plug in for compression only CPR.

https://cpr.heart.org/-/media/cpr-fi...ucm_494175.pdf

You just have to learn to check a pulse and do good compressions. This is particularly valuable in areas where ambulance response times are pretty quick. Chances of survival (walking out of the hospital) from an out of hospital cardiac arrest drop pretty drastically after the first 5-10 minutes anyway.

[AngryScientist]

I have trouble checking others for a pulse. I dont feel like I could reliable say with 100% certainty that a victim had no pulse if I checked them.

Any tips there for an amateur?

[jimcav]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

I have trouble checking others for a pulse. I dont feel like I could reliable say with 100% certainty that a victim had no pulse if I checked them.

Any tips there for an amateur?

The system prioritizes blood flow to the brain so as blood pressure drops you will loose the pulse in the wrist (radial artery—that is the one on TV shows often show in pulse checks), then the groin( femoral artery), and finally the neck( carotid —also frequent in TV shows). Never use your thumb as you can feel you own pulse with that method.
If in a quiet area if you still have good hearing you can go ear to chest and listen as you check the carotid.
All that said, I recommend you go to a course and get your BLS card.

[Spaghetti Legs]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

I have trouble checking others for a pulse. I dont feel like I could reliable say with 100% certainty that a victim had no pulse if I checked them.

Any tips there for an amateur?

Practice on yourself, plan on giving it 10 seconds without moving your hand. One hand on the neck and one on the groin (femoral pulse). Look for breathing (chest moving up and down more than once). If the person is breathing, they’ll have a pulse.

[redir]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

I have trouble checking others for a pulse. I dont feel like I could reliable say with 100% certainty that a victim had no pulse if I checked them.

Any tips there for an amateur?

Practice on other people to the point where you place your fingers in the proper location and feel it within a few seconds. Build muscle memory.