Local providers offer CPR/Medic/First-aide courses in the home or office in town
Contract Writer
Barbara Rawlings, certified midwife, Medic/First-aid certified instructor, uses plastic dummies to teach students how to check for obstructions in a victim’s airway and to perform CPR during a recent Medic/First-aide course taught in town.
Are you ready?
Sharon Dane, resident and psycho-social rehabilitation specialist for Goodwill Industries, is prepared!
In addition, she is helping prepare others to provide responsible assistance in the event of an emergency by recently hosting a CPR/First-Aid course at her home in town, taught by Barbara Rawlings, Medic/First-aid certified instructor and certified midwife.
Dane explained she is a reservist in the Idaho Medical Reserve Corps, as well, and is on call for dispatch to assist the victims of disasters nationwide, such as the recent Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast region.
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, President Bush asked each state to develop a Disaster Responder Corps. In response, the state of Idaho developed a Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) in conjunction with the Red Cross disaster relief organization.
Rawlings has been teaching CPR/First-Aid classes through the American Heart Association, as an independent instructor here in Bonners, for almost twenty years and explained the recent changes in the approach of CPR/First-aide, include training in the ABCD's, airway, breathing, circulation and defibrillation.
The Chain of Survival, taught by Rawlings in her classes, creates the most effective method for survival of accident victims and includes early access to emergency services, CPR, defibrillation and then, once the victim is transported to the hospital, early Advanced Cardiac Life Support Services.
Rawlings emphasized that CPR is only a holding action that temporarily provides blood and oxygen to the heart and brain. However, with new advances in defibrillator design, opportunities for those with training through classes such as the Medic/First-aid course, enable individuals to perform defibrillation on a victim with sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) using an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).
Rawlings explained AED's contain a microprocessor that can identify the electrical pulse in an individual's heartbeat and then make the decision whether a shock is given; something only trained medics and physicians could do in the past.
Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) has become the number one cause of death in most developed countries, and because recent innovations in the field of medical equipment have made possible the distribution of lower cost defibrillation equipment for use by the average citizen, the use of AEDs is now included in the Medic/First-aid Course.
SCA is unpredictable and strikes people even with no previous symptoms. The most frequent cause of SCA is an abnormal heart rhythm. Death will follow in a matter of minutes without assistance. Defibrillation is the most effective method of restoring the heartbeat.
Sharon Dane, resident and psycho-social rehabilitation specialist for the Goodwill Industries, hosts a CPR/First-Aid course at her home in town, taught by Rawlings.
Most companies, school districts, and community agencies have an emergency response plan (ERP). In the event of an emergency, Rawling's advises individuals to begin the ERP once a situation is assessed, determine the status of a victim’s airway and breathing, and begin performing CPR if needed. When an AED arrives, stop CPR and start the AED.
According to Elaine Atkins, of Boundary Community Hospital, good CPR provided to individuals suffering from a sudden cardiac arrest gives a 20-percent chance of survival, while the percentage increases to 70 with the addition of an AED within the first 6 minutes.
Fortunately, Boundary County received twenty AEDs that are available in the event of emergencies and have been distributed to area community service providers, city and county agencies, schools and businesses. Many of the AEDs were paid for through a State of Idaho Rural Consortium Grant a few years ago.
In addition, the graduating senior class of 2005 purchased and donated one to the Boundary County High School. Class President Lacey Jordan directed the purchase of the AED. At her encouragement, Atkins came and demonstrated how the AED worked, the class then voted in favor of the purchase and procurred the AED with the assistance of Atkins.
“What a responsible class we just graduated in 2005!” exclaimed Atkins, who said she thinks that having an AED on site at the school is “a neat thing.”
She added what motivated the purchase of the AED was that a young athlete in Lewiston, who had gone into sudden cardiac arrest, was revived with the use of an AED. The reason the school in Lewiston had an AED on site was that they had lost to death that same student’s brother just two years prior from sudden cardiac arrest on the basketball court, and no AED was available at that time.
Hepatitis, called the HIV of the twenty-first century, is highly contagious. Rawlings advises individuals to carry protective face shields in their vehicle to protect accident victims and yourself during rescues.
In addition to SCA, many injuries and accidents happen to people because of a vehicle incident. Rawlings emphasized it is important to remain constantly alert of traffic and to set up a traffic zone when necessary. The first thing to do in any emergency is STOP! Assess the scene for safety. If the area is not safe, go for help and find someone with the skills and training to make it safe.
In addition, it is a sad fact that many individuals today have a communicable disease. Communicable diseases include HIV, but more serious than that is Hepatitis, which is one hundred times more likely and one hundred times more communicable than HIV she said.
“Hepatitis is called the HIV of the twenty-first century,” Rawlings added.
Therefore, Rawlings encourages emergency response trained personnel to carry gloves and a barrier mask in his or her vehicle. Supplies are available at most pharmacies.
Another point to remember is that there are certain legal issues that apply if you are a volunteer rescuer.
The Good Samaritan Law covers volunteer rescuers in all 50 states. If you choose to stop and help someone voluntarily and expect nothing in return, as long as you are not grossly negligent, doing what you can with your training in good faith, the GSL will cover you in the event of a lawsuit.
Rawlings teaches the Heimlich maneuver, a method used to respond to foreign body airway obstructions, also known as choking, to a group of Bonners Ferry residents.
Another important feature of first-aid training includes responding to foreign body airway obstructions, also known as choking!
When someone cannot get air in or out, it is a panic situation. Remember to assess the situation for safety and know that a person in panic can hurt even a would-be-rescuer.
First, Rawlings advised looking the choking person in the face and asking them if you can help. If they nod, or gesture with a yes, you should move behind them and position yourself to do the Heimlich maneuver.
"If they can talk to you, they are not choking," Rawlings explained, "and if the victim is coughing, you should keep them coughing."
When someone is unable to get air, do not waste time when he or she agrees to let you help them. Safely get behind them, locate his/her belly button, put your fist on the stomach, far below the tip end of the sternum, and then put the other open hand over the fist.
Begin thrusts by pulling inward and upward. Be firm, the victim's life depends on it!
Do five nice thrusts, if that does not dislodge the object, reposition the hands and do five more, continue until it comes out or help arrives.
If the victim is pregnant or obese, do chest thrusts instead of stomach thrusts. Finally, Rawlings said that for smaller individuals like a child, you can get on his/her level, or if they are taller, have them get on their knees.
Rawlings emphasized that the Heimlich procedure really works.
However, if you do not get the object out using the Heimlich maneuver, the choking victim may go limp and unconscious. Help them to the floor, and begin your emergency plan by calling for help and checking for obstructions in the airway.
For individuals trained in CPR, begin CPR.
Finally, Rawlings advised having an Emergency Home Plan Card to keep near your telephone in the event of an emergency, and to fill in your street address, directions in case of emergency, hospital telephone number, and the names of family, neighbors and friends to telephone for assistance.
“That way, if you find a neighbor hurt in their yard and you go in to use their phone, the emergency information is immediately available,” she explained.
Under great duress, individuals have wondered what the telephone number for 9-1-1 is or have tried unsuccessfully to find the number 11 on the telephone dial, which is why the emergency number was changed from 9-11 to 9-1-1.
In addition, Rawlings advises individuals telephoning for emergency assistance from a cell phone to be very specific about where he or she is located. There are a variety of cellular providers for the Bonners Ferry area and you may reach an operator in Coeur d’Alene.
“When you telephone for help, the first thing to say is, ‘I need an ambulance in Boundary County,’ that way the operator will patch you through to the nearest emergency relief center to you,” Rawlings advised.
For information on Medic/First-aid courses available in your home or at site locations in town, contact Barbara Rawlings at 208-267-5332 or 208-267-0936, and the Boundary County Community Hospital for information on how to purchase an AED for your business or community organization at 208-267-3141.
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