Learn CPR and Defibrillator training

[Nevharris]

More people need CPR training. Not enough people do. I am an ex Nurse and Firefighter and seen first hand the benefits of learning CPR ect. I now have my First Aid Instructor qualification and teach Basic Life Support-CPR-Defibrillator training. My own training has helped me in 2 different situations, where I have come across 2 people in Cardiac Arrest. One was during the Great North Run, where I was participating and came across another runner, going into Cardiac arrest. There was a big team effort to get him back and he is now back running today. My second situation happened just over a year ago, when I was playing walking football and one of my team collapsed on the pitch. When I rolled him onto his back, I realised straight away that he was having a cardiac arrest. He wasn’t breathing normally One of the team rang for an ambulance, while a couple more players went to the reception to get a defibrillator, while I started CPR (Compressions and Mouth to mouth) the defibrillator soon arrived and a couple of the lads cut his football tops off. Straight away I noticed a big scar down his chest, so that I knew that he had previously had heart surgery. I applied the defibrillator pads, which verbally told us to give a shock, which was applied. There were still no signs of life and the Defibrillator told me to carry on with CPR, which I did. During one of the cycles, his right arm started to move and he was now showing signs of life. I felt a strong radial pulse and he was now breathing again and starting to come around. ( It was a great feeling ) by the time the ambulance turned up he was fully conscious. He too has made a full recovery and is back playing walking football again. This is why people need to learn CPR and defibrillator training. If you can recognise someone going into Cardiac arrest early on, you can ring for an ambulance straight away and while waiting for an ambulance, you can hopefully deliver effective CPR and hopefully get a defibrillator early on, so there is a much better chance of saving someone’s life and hopefully make a much better recovery. The more people that know how to perform CPR the better !!

[TedSpaniel]

TOTALLY agree. I have been a First Aider for 14 years now. I am a college lecturer so hve First Aid at work for work and I also teach students (16-18) First Aid. I work with what hopefully go on to be apprenticeship students. These have the potential to work with others who may be older or even in older peoples home. Some may already have kids, or even go out on the town for a night and a friend may First Aid. To me it is an essential skill for life and everyone passing through college should be trained. I have a colleague who actually watched someone die in front of him, he couldn’t help, and even after that still refuses to learn first aid. I simply can’t understand it ! Better to try and even fail than just stand there.