IF SOMEBODY’S life depended on you, could you save them with CPR?

Could you act quickly and remember how many compressions and breaths to do and what position to place somebody in?

With the spate of drownings across NSW this summer, it has served as a crucial reminder of just how important knowing CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) is.

A toddler was pulled out of a backyard pond in Fairfield West on Monday, but a quick thinking neighbour may have given the two-year-old a second chance.
Ramsey Vong, 33, told the Daily Telegraph he heard screams and rushed to the toddler’s aid, and remembered YouTube and Facebook videos he had watched about CPR.

“I came out and saw the boy lying on the ground … he was already unconscious and they were yelling ‘help, help, help’,” he said.

“I was breathing into his mouth and water came out but his eyes were closed.”

St John Ambulance NSW assistant commissioner Josh Clark said people should just attempt to give CPR, even if they didn’t know the specific procedure, because it gives the person in trouble more of a chance of survival.

The Australian Resuscitation Council says any attempt at resuscitation is better than none at all.

Fairfield West resident Ramsey Vong gave CPR to toddler. Picture: Jenny Evans
Fairfield West resident Ramsey Vong gave CPR to toddler. Picture: Jenny EvansSource:News Corp Australia
WHAT IF I HURT SOMEONE?

Mr Clark told news.com.au a pair of broken ribs would be better than the alternative, which in many cases is death.

If an elderly person is found unconscious, he said don’t be afraid to perform CPR on them because you’re worried about cracking a rib.

“I’m sure you know somebody who has had a fractured rib and survived. If somebody is unresponsive or not breathing and you commence CPR and do fracture or crack a rib, continue doing what you’re doing. If they do survive but have a fractured rib, that’s OK,” he said.

HOW DO I KNOW IF SOMEBODY NEEDS CPR?

“You can identify somebody who needs CPR really quickly,” Mr Clark said.

“It’s anybody who is not breathing like you.”

First you should check their airways, mouth and nose, to make sure there is nothing blocking them.

Then you should put your cheek near their mouth to see if you can feel them breathing while also putting a hand on their chest to check if it is rising and falling.

“If a person is breathing but gasping for air, that is still an indication to do CPR,” Mr Clark said.

Geoffrey Blackadder, who died over the Christmas holidays after he was caught in a rip at Wooli Beach, north of Coffs Harbour. Source: Supplied
Geoffrey Blackadder, who died over the Christmas holidays after he was caught in a rip at Wooli Beach, north of Coffs Harbour. Source: SuppliedSource:Supplied
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WHAT DO I DO?

According to Mr Clark, don’t breathe into somebody’s mouth unless you have a CPR face shield, to ensure no infections are spread.

Push your hands into the chest, right in the centre between their armpits, and start doing 30 rapid compressions. If you have a face shield, give the person two breaths, if not, focus on compressions.

Mr Clark said you should be doing about 100 compressions a minute.

If it helps, you can do your compressions to the tune of Staying Alive by the Bee Gees.

“Absolutely do that if that’s what you remember” Mr Clark said.

When giving CPR, you should always push down a third of their chest, Mr Clark said.

If a person is drowning, Mr Clark said you should protect their head and neck as you drag them from the water.

When getting them to dry land, roll them on their side to push water from the top part of their lungs, making more room for air.

Sydney twins Robbie and Charli Manago died after being pulled unconscious from their backyard pool. Picture: AAP/Facebook
Sydney twins Robbie and Charli Manago died after being pulled unconscious from their backyard pool. Picture: AAP/FacebookSource:AAP
Mr Clark also advised staying still when giving a child CPR.

“You can give them CPR in your arms and you might have a tendency to walk around,” he said.

“Stay still and put two adult fingers right on the sternum and breast bone, between the armpits, and get yourself still on a flat surface.”

Mr Clark said there were a number of different methods you could use when giving CPR.

“It’s like the Olympics, there’s gold, silver and bronze medals,” he said.

“Gold if when you use a defibrillator and a face shield, doing 30 compressions and two breaths. Silver is you doing CPR by yourself with a face shield and bronze is doing only compressions.

“But it’s all better than nothing and is still going to be effective until somebody arrived with a defibrillator or face shield.”

Mr Clark suggested people research how to give CPR online and also compliment it with some training.

CPR training is vital for all families in Canberra. With a large number of drownings taking place in Australia at the moment it is important that we all learn CPR. Please book in to a CPR course with Canberra First Aid so that you are prepared to save a friend or family members life. 

By Kurt Brown
7 December 2016

People throughout Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city, faced the threat of thunderstorm-related asthma deaths again last weekend, less than two weeks after eight people died and more than 8,500 were hospitalised on November 21.

On that day, the chronically-underfunded public health system in the state of Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital, essentially broke down, with dangerously-ill people unable to call ambulances in time. In most cases, people received no official warning of the danger.

Fortunately, a similar storm last weekend was less severe than initially forecast. Ambulance Victoria said paramedics responded to “several dozen” calls relating to asthma on Sunday afternoon.

In response to the public outrage over the way in which the system crumpled on November 21, officials said 15 extra road crews were rostered on. But in a sign of alarm, pharmacies reported selling out of asthma-related products, particularly spacers—devices that make it easier for people to take asthma medication.

On November 21, Melbourne, a city of more than three million people, ran out of ambulances despite the authorities reportedly calling in 60 extra ambulance crews. Police and fire crews had to supplement the ambulance service, along with non-emergency patient vehicles and field doctors trained for disasters. Hospital emergency departments were overwhelmed, with patients sleeping on the floors of some hospitals. At least two major hospitals, including Royal Melbourne, ran out of Ventolin, a basic asthma medication.

With a more than six-fold increase in calls to the ambulance emergency lines—one call every four and a half seconds—not all incoming calls were answered. In some cases callers were not informed they would be waiting for long periods for an ambulance to attend, resulting in deaths in at least two cases. Families spent desperate minutes trying in vain to resuscitate their loved ones.

At Sunshine Hospital, in the western suburbs, 18 ambulances were banked up in the early hours of November 22. Paramedics attended to patients because the lack of beds prevented their patients from being admitted to the hospital. This, in turn, meant they could not respond to the mounting emergency in the surrounding suburbs.

Victorian state Health Minister Jill Hennessy denied any responsibility for the breakdown, insisting the event was entirely unpredictable. Interviewed on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation television program “7:30,” she described the events as “like having 150 bombs go off at once in 150 different places.”

Drawing parallels to war conditions is spurious, designed to promote the perception of a system under siege by outside and hostile forces about which nothing could be done. In fact, the state Labor government and health officials received prior warnings of the storm, its severity and its probable consequences.

Biomedical Science Associate Professor Cenk Suphioglu from Melbourne’s Deakin University, who helps maintain Deakin Airwatch, a pollen count and forecasting facility, anticipated a high risk of thunderstorm-related asthma on November 21 based on prevailing weather conditions.

His study established a link between rye grass pollen as the chief allergen in thunderstorm-related asthma, with an initial publication appearing in the international medical journal the Lancet in 1992. There are abundant fields of rye grass in and around Melbourne, making the city particularly susceptible to thunderstorm-related asthma outbreaks.

Respiratory specialists in Victoria appealed for an advance-warning system for thunderstorm asthma five years ago, further exposing the government’s claims that the deadly weather event was unprecedented.

Researchers called for more warnings when thunderstorms followed days of high pollen counts in a letter published in the Medical Journal of Australia in 2011. Those conditions matched the weather on November 21 when the pollen count was “extreme,” temperatures topped 35˚C (95˚F) and northerly winds reached 56 kph (35 mph).

In their letter, specialists working at Austin Health in Melbourne drew conclusions from thunderstorm-related asthma events in Melbourne in 2010, 1989 and 1987. They proposed “that additional warnings of elevated risk of asthma exacerbations in pollen-allergic individuals should be made when springtime and summertime thunderstorms follow several days of high or extreme pollen counts.” No such warning systems were established.

Extreme outbreaks occur when pollen grains, of which there are high concentrations in Melbourne in spring and summer, are carried into the humid cloud base by hot drafts just before a storm. The pollen grains then absorb moisture, causing them to rupture and release large numbers of significantly smaller pollen particles.

These minute particles are able to pass into the lower respiratory system, triggering an asthma attack in asthmatics and with the potential to trigger an asthma attack for the first time in those with hay fever. The commencement of the storm brought these particles to ground level and, judging by the severe health impacts, distributed the pollen over a radius of about 50 kilometres.

To dissipate the growing anger over the debacle, the state government announced an inquiry, to be headed by a former police chief. Its only purpose will be to divert the blame away from its root causes in the underfunding of the health system by successive governments, Labor and Liberal-National alike.

To cover his government’s tracks, Premier Daniel Andrews pledged $500 million to be spent over the next five years to improve Ambulance Victoria, in a deal brokered with the assistance of the ambulance trade union. Even if honoured, this promise is for a paltry amount that will not overcome the cuts that have already taken place.

There is a long history of budget cuts in both state and federal spheres, resulting in public hospital closures, ward shutdowns and nursing and ancillary staff shortages. A new stage was marked when the Rudd and Gillard federal Labor governments, between 2007 and 2013, removed block funding from the national public hospital system. In its place, hospitals are now paid a “national efficient price” for each procedure actually performed, constantly pushing them to lower costs and undercut each other.

The current federal Liberal-National coalition government has continued this attack, slashing health funding nationally by an estimated $1.8 billion over four years, and $57 billion over a decade. During the campaign for the July 2 federal election, the Labor Party junked previous vows to reverse this cut.

An interesting article in regards to budgets and health in Australia and Canberra. It is great to know and understand how asthma works even if you dont suffer. Book yourself into one of our friendly first aid courses in Canberra so that you can be trained in asthma management. We can teach you all first aid techniques in our first aid courses so that you hopefully can manage emergency situations. We can also teach you about anaphylaxis, cardiac arrest, burns, bites and stings the list goes on so book in to one of our first aid courses as soon as possible.

December 14, 2016 3:43am

Something as simple as encouraging a person with a suspected heart attack to lie down and rest can limit damage to the heart muscle, calling an ambulance at the first signs of a stroke can prevent further brain damage.

“What you do as a first aider in those first few minutes is absolutely vital,” St John Ambulance first aid trainer John de Boer said.

“It is one of those times that seconds do count. We need people to do the vital stuff immediately: If a person is bleeding and we don’t stop that bleeding they will die and that can be very rapid.

“With a heart attack a person’s airway will be pretty severely compromised and the longer a heart attack is going on the more serious the damage it does … so by resting the person, the heart works less and therefore it is not using as much oxygen and it is not causing as much damage to the heart.”

If you suspect someone is having a stroke sitting them up helps to decrease pressure on the brain and keeping them calm helps to lower blood pressure.

“Everything you do as a first aider in keeping a person calm and relaxed makes it better for them,” Mr De Boer said.

If you are not confident, call 000 and the operator will talk you through the response required for your emergency and advise whether you need an ambulance. It is better that it be a false alarm than not making the call in the first place and someone losing their life.

The worst thing you can do is attempt to drive yourself or someone else to hospital in an emergency rather than calling an ambulance.

Emma Trace, Fiona Stanley Hospital emergency department consultant, said she had witnessed some terrible outcomes from people deciding to do that.

“Particularly with chest pain it is a big no-no for people to drive themselves to the hospital,” Dr Trace said.

“If something is life threatening or you think it might be life threatening then you should be calling triple zero for an ambulance.”

This meant medical assessment and treatment could start as soon as paramedics arrived and there was a more direct path to medical treatment at the hospital.

Dr Trace said it was common for people to worry about doing more harm in an emergency.

“But to be honest at that point, unless something is done quickly, then the likely survival rate for the patient is actually very low, so it doesn’t matter if you haven’t done a resuscitation course for 10 years or you have never done one, just something simple like calling for help and doing chest compressions and trying to help with breathing can save someone’s life.”

“But unfortunately there is a big lack of understanding in some areas: People who don’t even attempt CPR or don’t know how to manage choking or burns. I do think there needs to be some wider response to improve your basic first aid knowledge because it can make a difference at home.”

Life-saving steps: DRS ABCD

It’s an acronym that could save a life and will guide you through those first frantic minutes in an emergency situation — DRS ABCD. Here’s what the letters stand for:

Danger — ensure the area is safe for yourself and the patient.

Response — check for a response from the patient, ask their name, squeeze their shoulder.

Send — Call for help on 000 or ask someone else to call.

Airway — Open the patient’s mouth and check for foreign material — if there is any obstruction, put the person in the recovery position and clear the airway. If there isn’t, leave them on their back and tilt head back to keep the airway clear.

Breathing — If the patient is not breathing or not breathing normally, place them on their back and start CPR. If they are breathing well put them in the recovery position and monitor breathing and responsiveness.

CPR — Start CPR giving 30 compressions then two breaths. The heel of hand should be placed on the lower half of breastbone in centre of chest with the other hand on top of first. For children, use the heel of one hand only and for infants use two fingers. Press down one third of depth of chest and do about two compressions every second.

Defibrillation — Apply a defibrillator, if one is available, as soon as possible and follow the voice prompts.

At Canberra First Aid we will give you a detailed run down of the first aid action plan as seen above and then get you doing the process in a comfortable environment. We train all of our participants in all aspects of first aid and this can be the difference in an emergency. Please get yourself trained in first aid soon so that you learn all of the updated procedures. The first aid course has changed greatly over the last 10 years and it is important to learn the updated strategies for first aid. Book in to one of our $100 first aid courses on our website now.

December 7, 2016 4:00am

Disregarding safety advice and failing to supervise children were concerning trends uncovered by the poll of 2000 parents.

“Unintentional injuries are the biggest cause of death in Australian children under 15 years of age,” Australian Child Health Poll director Dr Anthea Rhodes said.

“While it is not possible or realistic to prevent all childhood injuries, safe supervision of play and attending to injuries if they do occur, is a common and important part of parenthood.”

Dr Rhodes said the lack of supervision and non-compliance identified was concerning, particularly with children under two, because at that age their parents were solely responsible for children’s safety behaviours.

The poll reveals that while many parents know how to treat a wound, many feel ill-equipped to tackle other common injuries.

Half of parents do not know what to do if their child breaks or dislodges a tooth and how to care for them if they are unconscious.

When it came to swimming, almost half of Australian parents did not know the specific first aid required for drowning and fewer than a third were confident in their ability to perform CPR on a child.

It also found that while 80 per cent of children use a trampoline, but only a third have an adult supervising.

One in six children have broken or fractured a bone, or suffered cuts, bruises of concussion using a trampoline.

Orla Morrison-Brown suffered a compound fracture when she fell off her family’s trampoline in January this year.

“I was inside when it happened, I broke all the rules,” her mother Rachael Brown said.

Fortunately her nursing training meant she knew exactly what to do while they waited for an ambulance.

“I did faint when the ambulance arrived, but I’m just so glad that I knew first aid.”

The poll also found that while most parents made their children wear a helmet while riding a bike, only half of those who rode scooters or skateboards wore one.

And despite helmets being mandatory in Australia for bike riding, one in six children do not always have their head protected.

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This information has been around for years now and is just crazy. As a parent you should have to do a first aid course before you leave the hospital. It is a basic one day first aid course with Canberra First Aid and it could save your childs life. We offer great first aid course at only $100 so that parents can be trained for the arival of their child. Our first aid courses are designed to teach you the information for both adults and children and we will even give you a free first aid manual to take home and put on the fridge. Book in now at www.canberrafirstaid.com

AUSTRALIANS enjoyed a white hot Christmas amid health warnings as temperatures soared to record highs.

Festive sunbathers have been baking in heat of around 37C in Sydney on the east coast.

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The temperature is predicted to rise as high as 42C in the suburb of Penrith, Sydney, before the end of the week.

Steph Spackman, a duty forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology, explained: “The sea breeze won’t be as strong tomorrow into Friday.”

The bureau’s heatwave service has predicted all of the New South Wales coast, which is roughly 1327 miles long, will have a three-day heatwave starting from today.

He said the rest of the state will experience a low-intensity heatwave.

It was a heat wave alright, and the temperatures are going to stay high in Australia for the next few months. SO I have an idea for you, why not book into a first aid course which will 1. keep you inside out of the heat for a day and 2. Give you the first aid training that will help you treat someone from heatstroke or hyperthermia. Great plan right. We are now offering many first aid courses in Canberra throughout the holidays and are more than happy for children to attend and get the training also. We offer great first aid courses for only $100 which is the best in Canberra. Book in now and receive a free first aid manual and cpr facemask to take home.

Mini First Aid has arrived in Bedfordshire, thanks to mum Danielle Jarmin.

The former account manager and mum of a two-year-old son is now running the business which is aimed at teaching parents and carers how to save babies and toddlers’ lives.

The launch comes as Mini First Aid publish ‘The Mini Adventures of Freddie’, the first book of its kind in the UK, to make learning first aid fun for young children.

A course is being held on Thursday, January 19, from 7pm until 9pm, at Lidlington Village Hall, High Street.

Danielle said: “Mini First Aid is a really impressive and well established business, providing vital information and first aid skills to parents and carers.

“I can’t wait to give parents the knowledge and confidence to know what actions to take if faced with a medical emergency.”

Danielle has plans to teach first aid to pre-school and school children as well as offering full paediatric courses and classes in the workplace, and can also offer private classes for parents to suit their needs.

Visit www.minifirstaid.co.uk

Well done to another great mum providing first aid skills to families. Come and join a first aid course with us and you will not only receive infomation on first aid training for adults but we also give details of the first aid for children. A great present for any mother expecting, forget about another bib or stuffed teddy. Give thema  gift that could save there childs life.

A hero mum saved a stranger’s life after she saw her collapse in the street.

Debra Bushell was walking near Gorton train station when she saw a woman collapse

Describing what happened, she said: “I walked around the corner to see a lady on the floor with a few people gathered around her, they asked if I could help and I thought yeah, I can do something as I’d had first aid training.

“Someone nearby said she was breathing and they could feel a pulse in her neck, but when I lifted her chin up, checked the airway and looked at her chest she wasn’t breathing.

“Someone was already on the phone to the ambulance service and I told them to say she wasn’t breathing.

“The person on the phone then asked if I knew how to do chest compressions and I said yes, so I just pushed her on to her back, lifted her chin up and started the compressions.

“It was strange as I wasn’t nervous at all, I just got into this little bubble and could hear all the kerfuffle in the background but I kept going until I heard the sirens and knew it wouldn’t be very long before help arrived.”

Watch: British Heart Foundation – Call, Push, Rescue

CLICK TO PLAY

Paramedics and the fire service came and took over, during the incident on November 18, and Janet was rushed to Manchester Royal Infirmary. She has gone on to make a full recovery.

Janet, from Timperley, said: “I just fell and really can’t remember anything about what happened. I hadn’t been ill and it’s strange as when people have a heart attack they get some sort of warning like chest or arm pains or perhaps start sweating.

“I had nothing and I had thought that my heart was alright. I am just incredibly lucky and thankful that Debra happened to be walking past at that moment.”

John Carrie, a senior paramedic from North West Ambulance Service who attended the scene, praised Debra and the fire service for their help and said it was a ‘complete team effort’.

He added: “Very often it’s the basics done well that works. Some first aiders will teach you how to do compressions and mouth to mouth, but you wouldn’t necessarily want to do that to a complete stranger.

“In this case Debra did chest compressions only. She kept going and doing them well – that was the most important and effective part. Just having that courage to have a go is enough as you can never make the situation worse.”

Chest compressions only is not far away from Canberra First Aid courses. We think that this is going to become a national regulation in the future. Please get yourself trained in first aid in the near future it is such an amazing skill to have. You will feel so dejected if you encounter a first aid incident and stand watching because you dont know what to do.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA.com) — What began as a happy day at the Los Angeles Zoo for a North Hollywood family quickly turned into a life and death situation.

On July 11, 2015, 13-month-old Connor Snider was visiting the zoo with his mom, Kelsey, and aunt, Tyla Epstein, when he began to choke on a grape moments after they got through the front gate.

His aunt, Tyla Epstein, talked to CBS2’s Randy Paige about the horrifying transformation she witnessed as she looked down at her nephew in her arms.

“Rosy cheeks, a little happy baby, to such a dark blue he was almost purple. His face looked like one giant bruise,” she said.

Epstein added that the more she and her sister tried to get the grape out of her nephew’s throat, the deeper it seemed to sink.

As they tried to dig for their cell phone that was buried in a diaper bag, Epstein screamed out for somebody to call 911, then zoo security staff took over, she said.

According to Epstein, a security guard tried to comfort them, saying: “He’s breathing. He’ll be okay.”

Epstein screamed and asked the guard if paramedics were on their way and couldn’t believe his answer.

“He just looked at me and he’s like: ‘Do you want them to be?’” Epstein recalled.

She said the security guard said he couldn’t call an ambulance until toddler’s mother gave permission.

But Kelsey Snider was so traumatized by the sight of her son she froze. “I was watching everything happening around me I didn’t know what to do,” she recalled.

“She was on her knees in shock. So I slapped her and was like: ‘Say yes!’ I knocked her out of whatever state she was in. And she just looked over and she was like: ‘yes,’” Epstein said. “He stared at us. I said: ‘Well, do it!’, and he finally did it.”

On a recording of the 911 call, the zoo’s security dispatcher can be heard calling for a rescue ambulance and described Connor as “choking but now is conscious and breathing and has stopped choking.”

“That’s not how I remember it at all,” the boy’s mother recalled. “He was still choking and barely breathing.”

“He was breathing so little that he was turning purple, and he had blood coming out of his mouth,” the boy’s aunt added.

The closest fire station is located three and a half miles away. According to fire department records, it took the ambulance almost eight minutes to get to Connor, and lights and sirens were not used.

When paramedics arrived, the baby’s airway was “fully obstructed” and he was “found limp” and “unresponsive”.

The toddler’s mom rode with him in the ambulance. “He was really purple and blue and like splotchy,” she said. “It was hard.”

It took paramedics a total of 18 minutes from the time they were dispatched to get Connor to Children’s Hospital.

Doctors told the family the boy’s brain was severely damaged, and he would probably never see again. He may be deaf, and he would have to be fed with a feeding tube.

At age one, Connor was walking a week before his accident. Now, at age two, he can only sit up with his mom’s help.

But she said her son continues to bring joy to her life with every milestone he makes.

The zoo declined to comment on the advice of the city attorney, and a request for information about how the zoo deals with medical emergencies was also denied.

Zoo officials sent an email saying the Los Angeles Police Department provides security at the zoo: “Please contact the LAPD’s Media Relations unit for any questions on emergency response procedures.”

When Paige did, the LAPD replied, “Sorry, but at this time we cannot accommodate your request.”

Paige then went to Dr. Marc Eckstein, the Los Angeles Fire Department’s medical director, and asked if security personnel should have the power to decide when 911 calls are made.

“Would you like to see that many steps before your ambulance is dispatched?” Paige asked.

“No, we certainly don’t want a secondary person triaging the case as it were before we’re contacted,” said Eckstein.

“Since we clearly have evidence that that is the protocol at the zoo, will you as medical director try to get to the bottom of this?” Paige asked.

“Knowing this now, absolutely we’ll reach out to our partners at the zoo,” Eckstein replied. “If that is their protocol, certainly we’ll want to reach out to them and change it because I think it can result in unnecessary delays.”

It is just so scary how fast you can find yourself in an emergency situation. Book in to a first aid course with us so that we can teach you all of the basic life support strategies for when you are in a bad first aid situation. We look forward to seeing you ina n upcoming first aid course with us at the Dickson Tradies where you can get the best first aid course in town at a great rate.