first aid, last day!

(Update 10:35 am: Posted a new Waiting For Frodo strip. I plan to post a bunch of these over the next week, for obvious reasons. :-) I'll also be continuing the strip through all three movies, though my posting schedule will likely slow down in the New Year until things heat up again in the summer. The next few strips, by the way, were done in collaboration with Jill Cainey, the Cute Weta Guy's girlfriend in New Zealand (Weta Digital did the special effects for the Lord of the Rings movie). More info about the Weta Letters here).

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Completed my St. John Ambulance course yesterday. We covered secondary survey (additional assessment if medical help is going to be a while), bone and joint injuries, chest injuries, wound care, multiple casualty management, burns, poison, bites and stings, and various medical conditions (diabetes, convulsions, asthma, allergies). Lots of bandaging and splinting! We also learned about how to do triage in a multiple casualty situation. Saw more graphic videos, including sucking chest wounds (who INVENTED that term??) and various types of burns.

At the end of the day, we took our final tests, and then got our certificates. I had made a card for our instructor using the picture at the top of yesterday's Blatherings, and got the whole class to sign it. :-)



I've had friends asked if I'm grossed out by all the blood and gore descriptions; I'm normally somewhat squeamish about such things. And I do confess several moments of internal "EEUUGGGHHH!!! GET ME OUTTA HERE!" during the course when things got especially graphic (I've purposely not gotten into details in my Blatherings, but our instructor covered some really horrific scenarios).

However, I found that the squeamishness was quickly replaced by a need to know as soon as I tried imagining someone I cared about being the casualty in any particular situation. Which is, of course, the reason I'm taking this course.

I hope that I will never have to use the skills I've learned. But in the event that something bad happens to someone I care about, I want to learn what I reasonably can so I'll be able to DO something about it if possible (instead of standing by helplessly). I say "reasonably", because there has to be a balance between learning some fundamental first aid basics and taking a zillion emergency situation courses (or going to medical school :)).



Not everyone can afford to take three days off for the course I just completed. However, while investigating first aid courses I found a wide range of similar courses offered at St. John Ambulance (I'm sure the Red Cross and other organizations offer similar coursees elsewhere) which take as little as a few hours to complete. St. John Ambulance will even send instructors to your workplace or home, if you have enough friends/neighbours interested. I've even heard of some parents arranging Infant CPR parties in their homes.

For those in Toronto, here's a list of courses that St. John Ambulance offers. I highly recommend the Infant/Child CPR course for parents (I took this shortly after my niece Sara was born).

Despite my new First Aid knowledge, I realize that there's still a chance I'll panic and forget everything I've learned if an emergency situation actually arises. But at least now I figure I've a better chance of having part of my brain (the part that was conditioned by the rote exercises we went through over and over again in the course) click on and say, "Wait a second, calm down...you still remember the basic steps of what to do in any emergency situation. Now, just start at the beginning..."

Jeff let me practice on him again last night: I put him in a regular arm sling as well as a St. John tubular sling last night while we were watching episodes of The Sopranos (Scott loaned us the second season on DVD). For good measure, I also pretended he had a bad hand injury and treated him for that as well. :-)



Links:

Infant First Aid for Choking and CPR: An Illustrated Guide (for children under one years of age)

Toddler First Aid for Choking and CPR: An Illustrated Guide) (for children approx. 1-9 years of age)


Today's Blatherpics:

- My First Aid partner, Ilya, just after I practiced splinting and bandaging his arm, then supported it in a sling. I told him to look like he was injured. :-)

- Practising arms splints and slings. We improvised splints from our First Aid books rolled up and secured by bandages.

- In this exercise, we pretended that the casualty had an objected imbedded in his leg to practise using the ring bandages we had made earlier. In class, we were always told to use the term "casualty" instead of "victim". A casualty is a person who is injured or who suddenly becomes ill.

- My St. John Ambulance card.

Today's Poll: (Courtesy Sherman Dorn)

Have you ever sent food through the post (mail, to those in the U.S.)?

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?

first aid, day 1

In order to get your three-year St. John's Ambulance First Aid/Basic Rescuer certificate, you need to get 70% on three written tests (one at the end of each day) as well as proving that you can do all the exercises in practical demonstration for the instructor. I've passed the first day, two more to go! I didn't even throw up during the Amputations Video, either.

Our instructor is Sebastian, an enthusiastic sort who is obviously heavily experienced in doing this sort of training. His explanations are clear and spiced up with practical examples and humour. First Aid humour can be a little gruesome, it's true, but it definitely helps us trainees from going into shock ourselves as we learn about emergency scene management, shock, unconsciousness, fainting, artificial respiration (adult), choking (adult), and severe bleeding. Today we cover infant/child rescuscitation, cardiovascular emergencies and CPR for adults.



CPR usually doesn't work, Sebastian warns us. Even if CPR is performed within the first four minutes of a person's heart ceasing to beat (after which brain damage can start to occur), there's only a 30% chance of survival. This contradicts the impression I'd gotten from watching too many shows on television where someone who knew CPR was pretty much guaranteed to revive a casualty with a few enthusiastic pushes on the chest.

We are each hooked up with a partner for the practical exercises. My partner is Ilya, a big burly guy with a sweet disposition who is planning to apply for firefighter training. The class also includes an RCMP-in-training, police officers-in-training, paramedics-in-training, and employees who have been sent by the companies to fulfill Ontario's First Aid Regulation 1101. And me. :-)

At first I wish I had a partner who is smaller, closer to my build, but then I realize that in a real-life emergency situation I will probably not have that option, so the practice will be good for me. So Ilya and I rescue each other from choking fits, treat each other for shock, check each other's breathing and pulse.



Because the course basically runs from 9 am to about 4 or 5 pm each day, I'm not getting much writing done except for these morning Blatherings. Pretty much zero e-mail since I'm offline during the day, so please forgive me if I haven't replied to your messages yet.

FYI (and I -know- you're all fascinated by this :-)), here are a few of the interesting things I've learned about choking. We also learned how to perform First Aid on choking people who were much taller, obese, in the late stages of pregnancy, and on ourselves.

- Never hit a choking adult or child over 1 years of age on the back. The impact could trigger an inhalation reflex, which would make the choking worse.

- Since the abdominal thrust (also known as the Heimlich Maneuver, I think) can be painful and cause injury, it should only be used on someone who is choking to the point where they can't talk, cough, or breathe. Sebastian told us about an enthusiastic rescuer who performed the abdominal thrust on a woman in a restaurant who seemed to be choking, but turned out to have just put her hands up to her neck because the string on her necklace had just broken. During practices, we never did the actual thrusts, but just went through the other motions.

- Don't put your head directly behind the other person's when doing First Aid for choking in case the victim's head whips back.



Links/news:

The Oxford English Dictionary is looking for science fiction citations in one of its new pilot sites intended to gather words in specialist areas.

Today's Blatherpics:

More photos from Tom's 40th birthday party on Sunday.

-- Daniel West.

-- Child's whiteboard in the West/Sagara household. Stephen King fans may recognize the word in the top left corner. :-)

-- John Chew.

-- Fridge magnet I made for Michelle and Tom about 12 years ago. The original magnet was a portrait of Tom and Michelle in wedding gear. Tom was in a tux, and Michelle in her wedding dress. Obviously, the Michelle magnet you see in the photo has been through a lot of wear and tear (it used to have arms! and two eyes!); Michelle says that Daniel used to like playing with it when he was much younger. She wouldn't tell me what had happened to the Tom magnet which had been attached.

Today's Poll: (Courtesy Sherman Dorn)

Do you have a stereo that can play vinyl albums?

bdy bash report

Photos today are from the surprise birthday party for Tom West, who turns 40 this month. I was still at the airport during the actual moment of surprise, but apparently he was, indeed, surprised.

The picture above is of Tom with one of his birthday cakes (there were two). Other people in the photo: Andy on the left, John and Mark (cake carriers), Christine playing "Happy Birthday" on the piano, Mrs. Sagara telling everyone to sing louder. :-)



Photo above is of me and Ross West. Last time I saw Ross West was when he was just a wee thing, Tom's little brother; I used to teach him flute lessons. Now he's taller than me! I confess I embarrassed myself when I first recognized Ross, openly gaping and saying, "Ross? No way. Ross?!" repeatedly. I'm sure he thought that old age had already started to eat away at my brain cells.



This is Mr. Sagara, Michelle's dad. I only see Michelle's parents at gatherings like this, maybe once or twice a year, but each time it feels as if no time has passed at all. Both have a wonderful sense of humour...but then again, they'd have to to be able to raise Michelle (sure hope Michelle isn't reading this :-D).


I clearly remember when I met Tom for the first time. Twenty years ago, first year at the University of Toronto. I was having some weird truncation problem when trying to print code in one of my computer science classes, and friends recommended that I ask the computer room advisor about it. On that day, the advisor was Tom West, also nicknamed "Mr. Tom The Advisor"; he quickly became sucked into our tightly knit group of friends (or perhaps his group of friends merged with ours).

As far as I can tell, Tom hasn't changed at all since I first met him...he looks exactly the same. Somehow I suspect he'll look exactly the same twenty years from now. He and MIchelle were the first to get married from our group. Sometimes Jeff and I try to figure out the complex map of how we all got together, the various linkings-up within the group, and where we all ended up (Jeff remembers first meeting Tom in high school, for example). John Chew has done a pretty good job at sorting out everyone and their original connections in his Poslpeople list.



Mrs. Sagara holding Megan Kesner (daughter of Jeff and Gail, born Sept. 11th), the youngest attendee at Tom's birthday bash. I got to hold her for a little bit; she is VERY cute. It was amusing to see various mothers at the party hold her and reminisce about the days when their babies just lay there quietly, not getting into trouble.

Megan and I had a very interesting conversation, at least until she got bored and started wailing.



Michelle and the Guest of Honour, amused by an issue of The Electric Penguin. Jeff and I gave Tom old issues of Poslfit News and The Electric Penguin as a birthday gift, from years ago. Yes, that's the same Electric Penguin that inspired our domain, electricpenguin.com. When we were back in university, I started up a print publication for my group of friends, continued it for years after we graduated. I keep meaning to start up an electronic version someday, but am leery about taking on too many new projects right now. :-)

Leaving for my first day on my First Aid/Rescuer course soon!

Today's Poll: (Suggest a poll question)

Have you finished your Christmas shopping?

meeting Moira

Moira Allen and I worked together for over five years on Inkspot without meeting each other in person. At first she just wrote the occasional freelance article, then became my Assistant Editor, then Managing Editor. In the last six months of Inkspot, Moira and I exchanged e-mail or phonecalls on nearly a daily basis, mainly to commiserate ("Can you BELIEVE they just did that?!?").

We figured it was finally time to meet in person. :-)



Not surprisingly, we got along just as well in person as we did by e-mail. We talked, we browsed craft shops, talked more, baked Christmas cookies, talked some more. I found out that Moira doesn't just write and edit...she's heavily into crafts of all kinds; her handiwork was all over the house. Whenever I saw something especially cool or interesting, I got into the habit of asking, "Did you make this?" More than half the time, the answer always seemed to be "yes".

As a Christmas gift, she gave me some handmade bookmarks, a copy of her recently published book (which hadn't yet arrived in my local Chapters), and a gorgeous beaded "dream catcher" that she designed and created herself. I drooled over the latter so much that we visited one of her favourite local craft supplies shops the next day to get materials so I could get a quick lesson in how to make them, too. The craft supplies shop was dangerous, packed full of all kinds of tempting things. In addition to getting the materials for another dream catcher, I also did some Christmas shopping.



Moira's also much more of an sf/fantasy fan than I realized, plus she and her husband Patrick are Star Trek fans. One of the many reasons we got along so well, I think. :-)

And they are very much cat people. They have three cats, Nonny (elderly type who sleeps on a heating pad), Fluff (a stray they adopted as a kitten), and Brisco. Nonny basically ignored me, while Fluff openly resented my presence and refused to eat while I was in the house. Brisco was the friendliest, and kept rubbing up against my legs whenever I was around, obviously sensing that I was allergic to him. Very cute cat (and he knew it, too!).

My friend David says that the main difference between cats and dogs is that dogs look at humans like part of the family, while cats view them as staff. :-)



I stayed at a place called ExtendedStay America...have any of you heard of this chain? I was pretty impressed. Super-cheap ($49/night), clean, comfortable, and each room comes with its own kitchen area complete with fridge, stove, and microwave. While picking up a few breakfast-type foods, I had a chance to check out Moira's local grocery store (you -know- how I like grocery stores!); I'll be posting a photo report in a future Blathering.

Lots of writing talk, lots of Inkspot re-hashing. By the time I left on Sunday morning, I realized that I should have booked for a little longer. Even the Canada Customs agent on the way back to Toronto asked me why my trip was so short. (!)



Anyway, a really great weekend, and I'm so glad I finally had a chance to meet Moira in person.

Don't think I'll be flying again for a while, though. I used to like flying (way back in my naive and more inexperienced days). I began to dislike it during my stint in Philadelphia. Dislike it even more now.

There are fewer flights these days, so I was stuck with a connecting flight through Washington instead of being able to fly direct. My flights were all in smaller planes, with the Washington/Norfolk flights being on a noisy prop plane. I suspect the airline is trying to save money by using smaller planes...can't blame them, but it sure makes flying even more uncomfortable. I spent the hour flight to and from Norfolk with one leg propped up on a ledge because there wasn't enough floor space to sit normally. Going through security is much more of a hassle, and I found the Norfolk United Airlines staff at security rude instead of just courteous/serious; I understand the need for diligence, of course, but it just makes air travel that much less appealing. I know of several others who feel similarly for different reasons, and who have already made vows not to fly again until things improve...factors cited include the abysmal Canadian dollar, the fear of another terrorist attack (though to be honest, I think that flying is safer now than it's ever been because of heightened security), declining customer service, decrease in perks (like in-flight meals), frustration of late and cancelled flights, and the general rough shape of the economy.



After I finally got back home last night, I left again to attend a 40th surprise birthday bash for my friend, Tom West. The surprise part was over by the time I arrived, but it was great to see so many old friends again. Photo report in an upcoming Blathering! I also found out that my friend Michelle HAS ALREADY SEEN THE LORD OF THE RINGS MOVIE...*TWICE*!!!!

I'll be taking a three-day Standard First Aid and Basic Rescuer course (9 am-5 pm) with St. John's Ambulance starting tomorrow, so I'm not sure how much Blathering I'll be doing in that time.



Today's pics:

- Moira and Patrick Allen.

- Moira at her desktop computer. She also has a laptop...an Apple iBook just like mine! :-)

- One of their three cats, Brisco.

- Patrick showing me a Star Trek game on his computer.

- Moira showing me the finer points of making cookie dough.

- Sign at the Norfolk Airport, just before going through security. This is the first time I've ever seen the warning about jokes. It would have been more amusing if there hadn't been a few military guys with nasty-looking rifles a few feet down the hallway.

- My view while I was typing most of this entry (en route from Washington to Toronto).

Today's Poll: (Suggest a poll question)

Have you taken a first aid course within the past three years?