first aid, day 2

Another day of First Aid training, one more to go!

Yesterday, we learned:

- the difference between strokes, anginas, heart attacks, and cardiac arrests and how to recognize and what to do for each

- what to do if a baby or child chokes

- what to do if a baby or child stops breathing, but still has a pulse

- what to do if a baby's or child's heart stops

- how to do one rescuer and two rescuer CPR

The little plastic babies and mannequin heads/torsos were pretty bizarre-looking, but are apparently easier to sterilize than the old-fashioned full mannequins. One of the trainees accidentally knocked the head off her baby during CPR.

Beneath the laughter over the weird-looking baby mannequins, however, was an underlying awareness of what this all represented. It's one thing to have a silver-skinned plastic baby replica needing artificial respiration; it would be quite another having to treat a real baby who has stopped breathing for some reason.

Ironic that we were all there learning skills we hoped we'd never have to use.

Sebastian talked more about CPR, and told us about a real case where CPR was performed on someone in the wilderness for over SIX HOURS STRAIGHT, and the victim was successfully revived. Six hours, geez. I found it tiring doing it for just a few minutes (mainly tough on the knees and upper arms, while trying to focus on counting). That's when having a second person to help with CPR is a tremendous help.

Today's topics includes stuff like burns, poison, bites and stings, wound care, bone and joint injuries, medical conditions.

Jeff let me roll him into recovery position and find his pulse recently for practice. He's a good husband. :-)


Today's Blatherpics:

- Sebastian showing us the baby mannequins we'll be using to practice on in our First Aid/Basic Rescuer class yesterday.

- Baby and adult mannequins, packed away after use and ready for cleaning/sterilization before use in the next class.

- Recent photo of Alexander (Phil and Lissa's son). Love the outfit! Lissa said it was a gift from her dad.

Today's Poll: (Courtesy Sherman Dorn)

Have you taken a course in Infant/Child CPR within the past three years?