Saturday, September 30, 2006
things I learned while making out with a dummy
Not that I recommend going into cardiac arrest, but if you do and I'm nearby- your chances of survival just improved. I'm now certified in CPR level C. Did you know that in only 2% of cases of cardiac arrest, the heart restarts by manual stimulation (CPR compressions) alone? CPR ultimately is just a stop gap to gaining access to advanced medical intervention (ie- a defibrillator). It sure is interesting what you can you learn when you lock lips with a dummy (relax, I used protection!).
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6 comments:
I'm planning to do that weekend St. John's course soon, since my company will pay for it. I did the course back in high school, but that was a horrifyingly long time ago and they didn't teach us CPR.
I used to do AR, along with other basic first aid, in my swimming courses. They didn't have dummies at the pool, so we all had to practice on each other. Pretty disgusting, actually. And not a real good idea.
G-
Which Dummy? Did you lock lips with Resusci Anne, or House Spouse?
That wasn't very nice Laz. You know I could make your life a whole lot more miserable... if say, certain pictures from your childhood were to be released into the blogosphere?
It was a training dummy, Dummy! The brand name escapes me at the moment but he had a white head, and a blue foam torso with a big black dot(compression chamber). In comparison to the rescue breathing training I had to go through for swimming as a kid (G, I know EXACTLY what you went through...ick), this was a breeze. Although the barrier method of teaching CPR/rescue breathing is way less icky, it does tend to gloss of the reality of a potential situation. It is very likely that you would have to deal with vomit in real life (really yucky). As a sympathetic vomiter, this is not my idea of a good time...
Since I haven't purchased a barrier yet (they run anywhere from $5 -$40), I won't be volunteering my services anytime soon. But at least I have the skill set now.
The dummy you used sounds pretty different from the one I've seen -- which is, in fact, Resusci Annie. She has dirty blonde hair and a track suit, and she does not look at all well. I guess she really shouldn't.
She doesn't puke in your mouth, though.
G-
G-
I suggest you get your training sooner than later as the Heart & Stroke people are completely changing the program...you have to watch DVD's and they test the speed and depth of your compressions. If you don't do it just right- you don't pass. I've got to do the new version next year but since I've never taken CPR before, I'm glad I got to do the less challenging version first handled before tackling the harder (and less social) version.
Good to know. Maybe I'll book a weekend in November. R says he might be able to get paid training through his job, too, so we were thinking of booking the same weekend in the hopes of winding up in the same class.
G-
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