After watching this video and getting all misty and proud about the actions of Officer Chase Miller, I got pissed. Why weren’t the parents perform CPR?
I understand that it was a stressful situation, but that is why you train, certificate and re-certificate. But I also know that CPR and Heimlich are no longer “cool” techniques to know and in fact a great segment of the population don’t care for them. It is a mixture of fear of contagion, fear of (unfounded) legal repercussions, the thought that 911 is the only appropriate answer and simply not caring for another human being.
At my last job and after having a couple of incidents with people having cardiovascular events, I pushed for having our section trained for CPR/Heimlich which did not win me any brownie points (apparently they frowned on overtime.) But once I opened that particular door, the company stood to lose big time in a lawsuit if somebody would have had a heart attack, nobody knew how to assist and then come out that somebody requested training and was ignored.
So we got the training and the promise of a key chain CPR shield. But when the training came, I could tell that all but two people in my section were disinterested about the process with one alleging religion as not to even try to learn (I found later on that he was bullshitting and he simply got the cooties.) It stunned me that people simply did not give a shit about somebody dying in front of them when it did not need to happen because they refused to learn what to do. Let’s say that after that day, I re-shaped my strategies at work with the knowledge that I would not have any help if something happened to me.
This is not about being a hero, but being human. Check with your local Red Cross or your fire department for training as I am sure they have classes every month if not more often. And you can be bold and go further with C.E.R.T. (Community Emergency Response Team) training which is offered by FEMA but will take you several days to complete. Trust me, just the materials and knowledge you get are worth the effort.
So the question now will be, Can you live with the thought that a 3-year-old kid died because you were too lazy/ignorant/uncaring to learn something so basic as CPR?
my wife had to get certified specifically for child cpr before she could work for one of those 300 dollar A WEEK daycares, I really do need to get certified as well
Reminds me, I need to recertify.
A couple of months ago, my wife and I stopped at a new feed store, the closest place in the DFW metroplex that sells the dog food that our omnivorous-but-with-a-delicate-tummy Husky can eat (with gusto) and not blow his colon all over the place afterwards. Sitting at the left-turn light literally two buildings away from teh store, I thought I heard a siren and looked, but didn’t see anything. We walked in, found the food, wandered a bit, and then went to the register. The cashier looked like he’d been having one of “those” days, so being friendly, I asked how things were going. He kept ringing us up, but looked me square in the eyes and said he’d just finished 10 minutes of CPR on a co-worker who’d dropped from a heart attack. Literally about a minute before we walked in, the ambulance left. That got me to thinking….its been since Boy Scouts that I had a CPR course. I know enough to render assistance and jump in with someone else, but that knowledge is extremely dated and out of practice. I’m looking at local Red Cross courses now.
There are two versions of CPR going, one from the American Heart Association (Hand Only CPR) and one from the Red Cross which covers a lot more than just pumping on a chest.
It’s becoming prudent – at least in some circles – to add a tourniquet to one’s EDC, and perhaps also an Israeli pressure bandage. That frequently involves major adjustment to one’s attire, but learning CPR and Heimlich don’t. Tip: the tourniquet in your car a hundred yards away might as well be home in your closet.
Along the same lines, it’s not at all unreasonable for businesses, as well as public facilities, to install AEDs and have personnel trained on them. FYI, it’s common to find CPR, Heimlich and AED training performed in the same class.
Start asking when you enter a business or public facility if they have an AED and employees trained in its use, as well as CPR-trained employees. AEDs aren’t inexpensive – about a grand, plus another $150-200 for the alarmed locking wall box to keep it in – but they do save lives. If enough of us ask about them we can get them installed in more places.
If I get back into doing NRA classes again my first purchase will be an AED to go with the trauma kit that always goes to the range with me (I used to be a Certified AED/CPR Instructor).
Here’s a trivia question: What’s the leading cause of death at shooting ranges and gun clubs? Answer: Heart attacks.
CPR, AEDs and cell phones, people.
I just took CERT training this past spring, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn how to keep himself, his family, and his community safe, but they don’t teach CPR. The reason: CERT is designed for mass-casualty events. The CERT mantra is “The greatest good for the greatest number [of people],” and CPR doesn’t fit in there; it’s too time-consuming. Once you start performing CPR, you can’t stop until: a) the patient starts breathing on his own; b) you are relieved by another CPR giver; c) the patient is pronounced dead by a doctor; or d) you’re too exhausted to continue. So in a mass-casualty event, while you’re working to save one person, several more may die.
That said, everyone should know CPR. The odds of a heart attack or drowning are much greater than the odds of a hurricane or terrorist bombing.