Inspired by a 9 Year Old to Learn CPR
Importance of CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation)
Many years ago, and lets just say “many” I took a CPR class at a local hospital. I learned the right combination of “breaths” and “compressions” and I knew all I needed to know to save a life, right? Then as the years went by, the healthcare community kept tweaking what they believed were improved methods for administering CPR. It just seemed like so many people were saying different things about the correct number of compressions, breaths, defibrillator usage, etc. And by the way……who is the official “decider” of the proper CPR technique? I’m going to go out on a limb, and guess it’s probably the American Heart Association?
Then a couple of months ago, I saw a story on “The NBC Nightly News with Lestor Holt,” about Dimitri Meram, who is a 9 year old boy who saved his mother’s life using CPR. A truly incredible and inspiring story in which two SanDiego school teachers, Dedra Patterson and Lynn Barns Wallace introduced CPR training to Dimitri Meram's school’s physical education program. Dimitri learned CPR in gym class, and later on knew what to do when faced with a real emergency to save his mother's life. Which got me thinking how important it is to really know and be aware of what to do in the event of an emergency. So I did some “CPR Homework” on the internet by visiting a few popular medical related web sites which generally provided the same CPR procedures. The American Red Cross’s CPR information was clearly laid out. The Mayo Clinic had three different skill levels (“Untrained,” “Trained and Ready to Go,” and “Trained but Rusty”) for people administering CPR. And finally The American Heart Association, which recognizes the importance of the need for “somebody to do something” and called their CPR cover page “2 Steps to Save a Life.” Step 1…Call 911. Step 2….100 to 120 Compressions. So short and simple, that even the least skilled will be able to help in an emergency.
I highly recommend that people do a little bit of CPR web homework on their own and find out what to do in an emergency….just like that 9 year old boy who saved his mother’s life. I have included a link to the news story in my blog.