By Ramona
Shelton
Motlow Buzz Managing Editor
SMYRNA
-- You just never know when an emergency might arise. The old-time mother’s
advice is “never leave home without wearing clean underwear in case you end up
in the emergency room.”
Yeah,
that’s great mom, but it might be better to serve yourself and the community
around you if you have an idea of what to actually DO when confronted with an
emergency situation.
Thanks
to Professors Stacy Dowd and Drew Hooker, nine Motlow Smyrna faculty and staff
members are now better prepared to react if CPR and First Aid are needed here
on campus.
Attending
the recent training (as seen in the photo) were Tracey Lee, Stacy Dowd, Ramona
Shelton, Charles Whiting, Paige Hendrickson, Mary Matthews, Michelle McEwen,
Estelle Davis, Mary Jo Johnson, and the day’s instructor, Drew Hooker. After
the training, all the attendees received their certification in basic CPR and
First Aid skills.
According
to Hooker, Motlow’s EMS program director, if you are in a situation where you
need CPR but do not receive it before the ambulance arrives, you have around an
8 percent chance of survival. If someone can implement CPR while help is on the
way, those chances jump up above 40 percent. Minutes count when your heart is
not pumping oxygenated blood to your brain, and CPR can more than double those
necessary minutes your brain needs to survive until trained medical personnel
arrive to take over.
If
you realize that someone needs help, firstly, stay calm. Look around to make
sure the area is safe. Ask the person what is wrong. Assign one bystander the
job of calling 911 and have him or her pass on any relevant information to the
911 dispatcher. If you are alone, call yourself and keep your phone handy. Give
the dispatcher the address where you are located and describe the emergency
situation. The dispatcher will then have help on its way.
Can
anyone help you as you are performing CPR? Hooker gave a vehement YES to that
question. An extra pair of hands goes a long way! You must keep the blood
flowing to keep the brain alive. And timing matters- chest compressions should
be done at the rate of 100-120 compressions per minute. Hard to keep up with
the numbers? That’s okay, just do the compressions to the beat of “Staying
Alive.” Yes folks, disco truly can save lives.
So
what if the patient is having a seizure? Are you supposed to stick something in
his or her mouth or hold them until the seizure stops? ABSOLUTELY NOT! You
might think you need to force a pencil into a seizing person’s mouth to keep
them from gnawing on or swallowing their tongue. Not true. Firstly, the power
of a person’s jaw could break the pencil or even chomp your finger off.
And
in the words of Drew Hooker, “Your grandma was wrong, they aren’t going to
swallow their tongue.” He also said not to try to hold a seizing person still
because “you will either break their bones or they will break yours.” Move any
objects they could bump into away from them, slide something soft under their
heads if you can, and just watch over them until the seizure passes. It may
seem like hours but seizures usually average about 15 to 30 seconds.
Cuts
are common injuries requiring First Aid attention. Attendees learned that there
is a two-part method to dealing with cuts. First, you place a dressing over the
cut and hold pressure to stop the bleeding. You do not remove the dressing
however to check to see if the bleeding has stopped; rather just ensure it
blood has not soaked through the dressing. If it has, add another layer of
dressing and continue to hold pressure.
Once
the bleeding has stopped, the second thing is to wrap a bandage around the
dressing and cut to continue to hold pressure on the wound. What is the
difference between a bandage and a dressing? Bandages are see-through and used
to keep dressings in place while dressings are not because they are thicker and
absorbent to help stop the bleeding.
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