I got my AHA HeartSaver CPR certification this morning. Most gyms and yoga studios require instructors to have the certification and I guess I don't mind knowing the correct technique for how to potentially help save someone's life.
In the three hour class, we learned how to do CPR on adults, children and infants and how to help people of all ages when they are choking, including how to perform the Heimlich on adults who are either pregnant or "huge." It was hard not to feel silly as we pumped away at the chests of these head-and-torso mannequins and then tried to force air into their pursed little plastic lips through our personal vented plastic hygienic mouth shields, but that, plus $55, is a small price to pay to be whatever the opposite of a human weapon is.
These guys - all current or former paramedics - have clearly been doing this training for millenia, likely word for word as it was delivered today. For example, Steve shared this little gem on how to make sure you are doing the chest compressions at the right tempo:
"Lots of popular songs have a beat that is about 100 per minute. One of them is 'Another One Bites The Dust' but I'm not sure you want to be humming that while doing CPR." Ha! Gets 'em every time.
One weird thing: all of the adult CPR mannequins were white-skinned, but half of the infant mannequins were black-skinned and the other half were white-skinned. I'm pretty sure this was some sort of subliminal social commentary on the dramatically lower life expectancy of African Americans.
Yes, all in all it was a good morning. Cause hey, free dummy.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
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