Sta.sh
Weird poll to have, huh?
There's an advert on UK television at the moment, sponsored by The British Heart Foundation, talking about chest compressions, and how people should do that if they haven't been trained in mouth-to-mouth.
The background research for the video was quite interesting:
A new poll conducted across the UK and involving 2,000 respondents showed nearly half were put off from performing CPR because of a lack of knowledge.
A fifth worried specifically about the thought of the kiss of life or about contracting an infectious disease.
Four in 10 people were worried about being sued if they did something wrong, even though the BHF argues no such case has ever succeeded in Britain.
"Thirty thousand people have a cardiac arrest in the UK every single year and half of those are witnessed, but in most cases no-one acts, no-one knows what to do, people panic."
This information got me thinking.
I had a basic First Aid course... over four years ago now. Chest compression CPR was one of the things covered. While I'm happy to announce "I've been taught CPR", the truth of the matter is... I really don't know much of what I'm doing.
From what I remember, you did 15 pumps, then put your ear to their mouth to check for breathing. If there is none, you try again, and again, until the paramedics arrive. But... I have no idea if that's right. If I did have to do it, I wouldn't know if I was pressing to hard or too shallow, whether I'm meant to just keep going until help arrives...
We're all so quick to draw upon whatever little training we've had and chalk it up as useful knowledge... but a short few hours in school, or a one-day training course, really doesn't feel enough to me, to know how to save a life.
Considering how many people have cardiac arrests in the UK, let alone the rest of the world, it seems crazy to me that this information isn't fed into our brains throughout school, as well as in the work-place.
So, my task during my free time today was to brush up on CPR, and how to perform it. You never know when it might be needed!
The British Red Cross has this page on CPR, as well as a video to help: [link]
I found this website with a step-by-step walkthrough on how to perform CPR, including mouth-to-mouth: [link]
After finishing up on CPR, and feeling much more confident in my knowledge, I went back to the Everyday First Aid page on the Red Cross site ([link]) and browsed through other common medical emergencies, to refresh more of my first aid knowledge.
SO! If you find yourself with a spare bundle of minutes, instead of turning to youtube or tumblr to numb your boredom, have a look into those links right there. Who knows? You might just save someone's life one day.
Click here for the Parlé Productions Facebook page!
Events I'm Attending
• 2nd - 5th Feb = SFX Weekender, UK
• 13th - 15th Apr = Kitacon, UK
• 26th - 27th May = MCM Expo, UK
• 15th - 17th Jun = Metrocon, FL, USA
Member of Parlé Productions
"If you enter this world knowing you are loved
and you leave this world knowing the same,
then everything that happens in between can be dealt with."
- Michael Jackson -
And after watching it I thought it was a pretty accurate add for awareness, even if there were a couple of things that may mislead people. For one he was right about the mouth to mouth point, not everyone wants to do it, for risk of catching a disease over the awkwardness, although mouth to mouth would give the person a better chance of waking up. However, when he was doing the compression's I noticed he was bouncing a lot, I am studying life saving to be a life guard and one thing we have been told is never to bounce. If you are bouncing then you aren't putting enough force into the persons chest. I have noticed in a lot of TV shows and other media they always show a lot of bouncing over the body, which makes watchers thing that if the bounce they are doing it right. Also, another vital point the add didn't show was one arm needs to be at 90 degrees between the compression-ers leg, this is important as it keeps the person close to you in case they suddenly wake up in a daze and begin to struggle, which could end up causing them more harm.
I just thought I would say this because they are never brought up in medical shows, which unfortunately many people learn their basic CPR skills.
It varies for babies, children, and adults, but for adults, it's 30 compressions, 2 breaths, 30 compressions, 2 breaths and so on until they regain consciousness or the paramedics arrive~
But I agree, CPR and basic first aid should be taught all throughout school so that it's common knowledge for everyone and not just those who get the opportunity to go through a certification course. I make it a point to teach my friends CPR and basic first aid because I want them to have that knowledge as well.
I agree that everywhere in the world people should take Basic first aid. I don't know about the UK but in Canada if you want to keep certified you have to re take the WHOLE course every two years, unless your a lifeguard, coach ect.