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Mass CPR Training
Jan. 29th, 2004 12:00 pmI went to something Saturday called "Mass CPR Training." I thought it sounded interesting. Maybe exciting. Maybe a disorganized madhouse. But the cost was reduced, and it included lunch, and a t-shirt, and the book, and other little things. Plus one of my bosses said he'd pay for it. Then he also gave us comp time. Which I later found out was really overtime for me which means I get six hours of comp time for the four-hour class (time and a half, you know).
So, yes, I went. And it was very well done. First I went to an auditorium with one or two hundred other people. (Mostly female; that was weird. By "mostly," I mean over 90%.) We listened to a lecture (with little movies) for two hours from someone who deals with emergencies in her career, so she had that first-hand knowledge in addition to the required training.
Then they broke us up into groups of four or so, with a manikin for each pair of students. Then we practiced responses for choking on conscious and unconscious victims as well as first aid for other people who aren't breathing and people without circulation.
A few things have changed since I last took CPR. I used to take it every year. But I realized that was about twenty years ago. Right around when most of my classmates were being born. My mom had told me they quit teaching two-person CPR. For those who don't know, they used to teach a version where one person did the chest thrusts and a different person did the breathing, timing the breaths so that they occurred every five thrusts, between the thrusts. Apparently this wasn't working well in the field, so now they just teach one-person CPR.
They also teach it using these weird plastic face shields. They look a lot like those plastic bags you are supposed to keep babies' heads out of, but there is some sort of valve that you carefully position over the victim's mouth. This way you don't have to catch any diseases from any liquid contact.
They also don't teach back blows for choking victims. If the person is conscious, you just do the Heimlich maneuver. Otherwise, you do something that looks quite a lot like CPR, with the same 15-thrusts-per-2-breathing-attempts rhythm.
I also don't remember them stressing that you should look around when you come across an emergency situation before just running up to someone who needs help. There may be electrical hazards, fire hazards. If you notice several unconscious folks, they may have been breathing something you don't want to breathe. I remember them stressing it in lifesaving not to risk your own life trying to rescue someone else, but I don't remember it in CPR.
Overall, it was very well done, and I definitely learned it pretty well even with the mass quantities of people. It was put on by the American Red Cross Club of UT. What I'm guessing happens is that all the members get training in the fall, and then get training on how to do training. So then in the spring, there is a big pile of them ready to train an even bigger pile of us. Did I mention they had a morning, afternoon, and evening CPR session in addition to some other Red Cross courses?
So, yes, I went. And it was very well done. First I went to an auditorium with one or two hundred other people. (Mostly female; that was weird. By "mostly," I mean over 90%.) We listened to a lecture (with little movies) for two hours from someone who deals with emergencies in her career, so she had that first-hand knowledge in addition to the required training.
Then they broke us up into groups of four or so, with a manikin for each pair of students. Then we practiced responses for choking on conscious and unconscious victims as well as first aid for other people who aren't breathing and people without circulation.
A few things have changed since I last took CPR. I used to take it every year. But I realized that was about twenty years ago. Right around when most of my classmates were being born. My mom had told me they quit teaching two-person CPR. For those who don't know, they used to teach a version where one person did the chest thrusts and a different person did the breathing, timing the breaths so that they occurred every five thrusts, between the thrusts. Apparently this wasn't working well in the field, so now they just teach one-person CPR.
They also teach it using these weird plastic face shields. They look a lot like those plastic bags you are supposed to keep babies' heads out of, but there is some sort of valve that you carefully position over the victim's mouth. This way you don't have to catch any diseases from any liquid contact.
They also don't teach back blows for choking victims. If the person is conscious, you just do the Heimlich maneuver. Otherwise, you do something that looks quite a lot like CPR, with the same 15-thrusts-per-2-breathing-attempts rhythm.
I also don't remember them stressing that you should look around when you come across an emergency situation before just running up to someone who needs help. There may be electrical hazards, fire hazards. If you notice several unconscious folks, they may have been breathing something you don't want to breathe. I remember them stressing it in lifesaving not to risk your own life trying to rescue someone else, but I don't remember it in CPR.
Overall, it was very well done, and I definitely learned it pretty well even with the mass quantities of people. It was put on by the American Red Cross Club of UT. What I'm guessing happens is that all the members get training in the fall, and then get training on how to do training. So then in the spring, there is a big pile of them ready to train an even bigger pile of us. Did I mention they had a morning, afternoon, and evening CPR session in addition to some other Red Cross courses?