12/Apr/2011
A HAMILTON Senior High School student administered life-saving first aid to a critically injured man, using techniques he had recently learnt at a school-based senior first aid course.
Year 11 student Dion Sgherza (15) performed CPR on the unconscious man for 15 to 20 minutes before the arrival of paramedics, who continued the treatment with his help and information.
The man was suffering life-threatening breathing constrictions from a throat injury.
Dion, a keen football player, was commended by police for his efforts in saving the man by remaining calm and remembering the skills he was taught at school.
Principal Donna McDonald said the school was proud of Dion, who should be seen as a role model in the community.
“He learnt the skills, he was called upon to use them and he did his absolute best at the time,” she said.
“He’s a real role model.”
Completion of a three-day senior first aid course is compulsory for all students undertaking Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses at the school and Mrs McDonald said that up to 40 per cent of staff and students at the school held current certificates.
“We want to give students good skills that are required out in our society,” she said.
“We not only train our senior students, but we also train our staff.”
More than 40 Year 11 VET students attended the Australian Red Cross course in term one this year, helping them to achieve their Tafe training certificates.
School spokeswoman Leeana Manifis-Gott said a first aid certificate provided the mutual benefit of an ideal qualification for a student’s resume and an important skill to have in the workplace and community.
Dion, who is part of the school’s industrial studies program, said he was pleased he had the skills to help in a real-life situation and recommended a first aid course to everyone.
“I would definitely recommend it because there’s a high chance that you may need to use it one day,” he said.
When you see a cardiac arrest, your brain fights you - "No, this isn't really happening" - and the circumstances fight you - "Dang! in CPR class the manikin didn't weigh very much and wasn't sitting in a deep chair. This blog deals with practical details and presents reports of "saves." Let me have your questions and comments - they will steer the course of this blog. This blog is brought to you by the volunteers at www.slicc.org
Monday, April 11, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
When the pieces are in place, it works most of the time.
CLINTON TWP. — A 16-year-old girl collapsed in cardiac arrest during cheerleader tryouts at North Hunterdon High School on Tuesday night and was flown to Morristown Memorial Hospital after receiving CPR from police, school staff and a parent.
She was “awake and doing OK” at the hospital this morning, according to school spokeswoman Maren Smagala. The victim’s mother told police that her daughter suffers from sports-induced asthma, which may have caused the attack.
The school this afternoon issued a statement congratulating the coaches and cheerleaders “for acting quickly and bravely during cheerleading tryouts last night.”
As part of tryouts, the girls were jogging through the hallways of the school when the junior collapsed in a second-floor hallway and went into a seizure, Clinton Township police said. Other girls reported noticing that she was experiencing shortness of breath before she collapsed.
The school told what happened next: Coach Veronica Conly responded quickly to the cheerleader and told cheerleader Lauren Froschhauser to call 9-1-1 on her cell phone. Head Coach Tiffany Slowinski used her two-way radio to advise trainer Karen Korbul of the emergency.
Conly found that the girl had no pulse and began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the her. She did about seven cycles of CPR before Coach Allison Arth arrived to help. Arth used the automated external defibrillator (AED) to help revive the girl’s heart. Kelly Strauss, the mother of another girl at the tryouts, also helped with the effort, police said.
By then, Clinton Township Police Officer John Tiger arrived and continued CPR on the cheerleader until the emergency medical personnel arrived. Clinton rescue squad and the Hunterdon Medical Center paramedics arrived and took over reviving the teen.
The State Police Northstar medical airlift helicopter landed around 7:15 p.m. and flew the patient to Morristown Hospital. Around 8 p.m., Slowinski confirmed with the teen’s parents that she was in stable condition.
“Thanks to all the people that were on site helping during the emergency,” Principal Mike Hughes and Athletic Director John Deutsch said in the school’s statement.
“We are very proud at the response and attention that was demonstrated by the coaches and cheerleaders. You’ve demonstrated Lion pride!”
All coaches at North are certified in CPR. Conly is also a certified basic life support (BLS) and first aid trainer.
She was “awake and doing OK” at the hospital this morning, according to school spokeswoman Maren Smagala. The victim’s mother told police that her daughter suffers from sports-induced asthma, which may have caused the attack.
The school this afternoon issued a statement congratulating the coaches and cheerleaders “for acting quickly and bravely during cheerleading tryouts last night.”
As part of tryouts, the girls were jogging through the hallways of the school when the junior collapsed in a second-floor hallway and went into a seizure, Clinton Township police said. Other girls reported noticing that she was experiencing shortness of breath before she collapsed.
The school told what happened next: Coach Veronica Conly responded quickly to the cheerleader and told cheerleader Lauren Froschhauser to call 9-1-1 on her cell phone. Head Coach Tiffany Slowinski used her two-way radio to advise trainer Karen Korbul of the emergency.
Conly found that the girl had no pulse and began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the her. She did about seven cycles of CPR before Coach Allison Arth arrived to help. Arth used the automated external defibrillator (AED) to help revive the girl’s heart. Kelly Strauss, the mother of another girl at the tryouts, also helped with the effort, police said.
By then, Clinton Township Police Officer John Tiger arrived and continued CPR on the cheerleader until the emergency medical personnel arrived. Clinton rescue squad and the Hunterdon Medical Center paramedics arrived and took over reviving the teen.
The State Police Northstar medical airlift helicopter landed around 7:15 p.m. and flew the patient to Morristown Hospital. Around 8 p.m., Slowinski confirmed with the teen’s parents that she was in stable condition.
“Thanks to all the people that were on site helping during the emergency,” Principal Mike Hughes and Athletic Director John Deutsch said in the school’s statement.
“We are very proud at the response and attention that was demonstrated by the coaches and cheerleaders. You’ve demonstrated Lion pride!”
All coaches at North are certified in CPR. Conly is also a certified basic life support (BLS) and first aid trainer.
Friday, April 1, 2011
11 Year Old Boy saves Brother
HUDSON, N.H. -- An 11-year-old boy is being hailed as a hero for saving his 8-year-old brother from choking.
Nathan Carbonneau, 8, said he was having a good time at dinner in February until he started choking on a carrot.
"I was laughing, and it was in my mouth, and I didn't chew it yet, and it went right down, and I started choking," he said.
Nathan's mother, Sherry Carbonneau, said it was clear something was wrong.
"He's red, red, red in the face, and I am just shaking," she said.
Carbonneau said she has been trained in CPR, but she admitted that she panicked.
"When I told the Red Cross this, they said it's typical for a parent to react that way," she said. "They get nervous."
But Nathan's older brother, Griffin, got over his nervousness.
"I was nervous at first, but then I thought, 'I know what to do now,'" he said.
Griffin used the Heimlich technique on his brother, dislodging the carrot after four tries.
Griffin said he learned the technique in his fifth-grade class at Presentation of Mary School in Hudson, which teaches a Red Cross school safety class.
"It teaches school-aged children from elementary to high school ways to be prepared for emergencies," said Maria White, CEO of the American Red Cross of New Hampshire.
Since 2005, Oracle Systems in Nashua has funded the program.
"It makes us choke up when we think how successful it's been and how lucky we are that it's worked out," said Steven Hagan, Oracle vice president of engineering.
Griffin said he's glad he had the training to save his brother's life.
"I would encourage it for as many kids as possible to take it, and also for adults," he said. "It's just one of those things that you never know when you'll need it."
Nathan Carbonneau, 8, said he was having a good time at dinner in February until he started choking on a carrot.
"I was laughing, and it was in my mouth, and I didn't chew it yet, and it went right down, and I started choking," he said.
Nathan's mother, Sherry Carbonneau, said it was clear something was wrong.
"He's red, red, red in the face, and I am just shaking," she said.
Carbonneau said she has been trained in CPR, but she admitted that she panicked.
"When I told the Red Cross this, they said it's typical for a parent to react that way," she said. "They get nervous."
But Nathan's older brother, Griffin, got over his nervousness.
"I was nervous at first, but then I thought, 'I know what to do now,'" he said.
Griffin used the Heimlich technique on his brother, dislodging the carrot after four tries.
Griffin said he learned the technique in his fifth-grade class at Presentation of Mary School in Hudson, which teaches a Red Cross school safety class.
"It teaches school-aged children from elementary to high school ways to be prepared for emergencies," said Maria White, CEO of the American Red Cross of New Hampshire.
Since 2005, Oracle Systems in Nashua has funded the program.
"It makes us choke up when we think how successful it's been and how lucky we are that it's worked out," said Steven Hagan, Oracle vice president of engineering.
Griffin said he's glad he had the training to save his brother's life.
"I would encourage it for as many kids as possible to take it, and also for adults," he said. "It's just one of those things that you never know when you'll need it."
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Three saves in three days. It works.
By Julie Carey
advertisement
People performing CPR helped the Fredericksburg Fire Department save three lives in three days, officials said.
At a fire station in downtown Fredericksburg, Va., the trucks roll on about 10 calls per day, and most calls are fairly routine. Months could go by without an opportunity for what they call a "save" -- reviving a patient on the edge of death -- so last week's three saves were unusual.
"Three in three days, I haven’t seen that in 20 years," Sgt. Jay Skinner said.
On March 19 at the Amtrak station, an elderly woman collapsed on the train, and passengers started CPR. Amtrak personnel and bystanders also hooked up the automated external defibrillator (AED) to the victim, though a shock wasn't needed. An IV and drugs produced a pulse.
On March 20, a woman in her 60s went into respiratory distress at a downtown restaurant. A 911 dispatcher gave the bystanders CPR instructions. When firefighter Mike Athenry arrived, he took over.
"We attached our AED to the patient," he said. "The AED allowed us to shock the victim. One shock was delivered. We started CPR again. The AED told us no shock was needed. We checked for a pulse. We had one."
Then on March 21, a patient at a dentist's office went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. Rescue crews found the doctor and his staff had already started CPR and attached the AED, which advised two shocks. The second revived the woman.
"The community definitely played a part," said Patricia Derr, of the Fredericksburg Fire Department. "Bystander CPR is very important. The quicker that they start having someone do compressions on them, the better their chances of survival."
Such saves are becoming more common because CPR guidelines have changed for civilians, Skinner said. With rapid chest compressions the simpler standard now, more are willing to try CPR.
"It's amazing," Skinner said. "It really is. To see them from the brink of death to actually having a pulse and breathing again, I mean, that's what makes this job worth having."
If you want to learn CPR, go to the websites of the American Heart Association or the Red Cross to find a class near you.
advertisement
People performing CPR helped the Fredericksburg Fire Department save three lives in three days, officials said.
At a fire station in downtown Fredericksburg, Va., the trucks roll on about 10 calls per day, and most calls are fairly routine. Months could go by without an opportunity for what they call a "save" -- reviving a patient on the edge of death -- so last week's three saves were unusual.
"Three in three days, I haven’t seen that in 20 years," Sgt. Jay Skinner said.
On March 19 at the Amtrak station, an elderly woman collapsed on the train, and passengers started CPR. Amtrak personnel and bystanders also hooked up the automated external defibrillator (AED) to the victim, though a shock wasn't needed. An IV and drugs produced a pulse.
On March 20, a woman in her 60s went into respiratory distress at a downtown restaurant. A 911 dispatcher gave the bystanders CPR instructions. When firefighter Mike Athenry arrived, he took over.
"We attached our AED to the patient," he said. "The AED allowed us to shock the victim. One shock was delivered. We started CPR again. The AED told us no shock was needed. We checked for a pulse. We had one."
Then on March 21, a patient at a dentist's office went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. Rescue crews found the doctor and his staff had already started CPR and attached the AED, which advised two shocks. The second revived the woman.
"The community definitely played a part," said Patricia Derr, of the Fredericksburg Fire Department. "Bystander CPR is very important. The quicker that they start having someone do compressions on them, the better their chances of survival."
Such saves are becoming more common because CPR guidelines have changed for civilians, Skinner said. With rapid chest compressions the simpler standard now, more are willing to try CPR.
"It's amazing," Skinner said. "It really is. To see them from the brink of death to actually having a pulse and breathing again, I mean, that's what makes this job worth having."
If you want to learn CPR, go to the websites of the American Heart Association or the Red Cross to find a class near you.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Bringing victims and resources together
Here's a report of another iPhone app for CPR / AED resource matching. See also Dr. Dana Elliott's "AED" Nearby smart phone app. Both these initiatives try to bring cardiac arrest victims and AED's together. The app described below also alerts CPR-trained personnel who have signed up to be notified.
_____________
Back in January I wrote about an ambitious new mobile application that has a very good chance of saving lives (perhaps even many lives). And it’s just gotten support from the City of San Francisco, which is the first major city to pledge support for this very important service.
The application itself is called Fire Department. Download it, and you’ll be asked if you’re trained in CPR. Click ‘Yes’, and the application will then passively monitor your location (without draining your phone’s battery). Here’s where the life-saving comes in: if someone calls 911 to report a possible heart attack victim, 911 dispatchers can send an alert to anyone in the vicinity with CPR training who has this app on their phone. They’ll immediately receive a push notification with the location of the victim, as well as the locations of any nearby automatic external defibrillators (AEDs). The whole process only takes a matter of seconds. Minutes are absolutely critical in these situations, and the immediate initiation of CPR before an ambulance arrives can be life saving.
But there’s still a lot of work to be done. At this point the service is only available in the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District where the initiative got its start (Lucas Hirst, who has helped spearhead the effort, is a friend of mine from high school). San Francisco is now on board, and is asking volunteers to help build a map of AEDs (which frequently go unused in emergencies because people simply don’t know they’re there). San Francisco hopes to have the technology working by the end of the year. The city’s website for the initiative is right here.
The news was announced at an event today by SF Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White and City Attorney Dennis Herrera, along with Fire Fighters Union Local 798. Now if only they’d fix the startup tax situation.
_____________
Back in January I wrote about an ambitious new mobile application that has a very good chance of saving lives (perhaps even many lives). And it’s just gotten support from the City of San Francisco, which is the first major city to pledge support for this very important service.
The application itself is called Fire Department. Download it, and you’ll be asked if you’re trained in CPR. Click ‘Yes’, and the application will then passively monitor your location (without draining your phone’s battery). Here’s where the life-saving comes in: if someone calls 911 to report a possible heart attack victim, 911 dispatchers can send an alert to anyone in the vicinity with CPR training who has this app on their phone. They’ll immediately receive a push notification with the location of the victim, as well as the locations of any nearby automatic external defibrillators (AEDs). The whole process only takes a matter of seconds. Minutes are absolutely critical in these situations, and the immediate initiation of CPR before an ambulance arrives can be life saving.
But there’s still a lot of work to be done. At this point the service is only available in the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District where the initiative got its start (Lucas Hirst, who has helped spearhead the effort, is a friend of mine from high school). San Francisco is now on board, and is asking volunteers to help build a map of AEDs (which frequently go unused in emergencies because people simply don’t know they’re there). San Francisco hopes to have the technology working by the end of the year. The city’s website for the initiative is right here.
The news was announced at an event today by SF Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White and City Attorney Dennis Herrera, along with Fire Fighters Union Local 798. Now if only they’d fix the startup tax situation.
Man meets his Chaminade life savers
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – At Chaminade Wednesday, six students were recognized with awards of heroism.
Executive assistant to Hawaii county Mayor Bill Kenoi, Bobby Command was visiting the Chaminade campus with his family on February 5th to watch a high school basketball game. He went to his car when he started to feel a little uneasy. "Suddenly got really dizzy. I had some problems with my heart before so I kind of knew what was happening. I was beginning to faint," said Command.
Command collapsed and went into full cardiac arrest. Treston Silva so happened to be nearby when he saw Command on the ground. Glenn Yri remembers when he came rushing to help. As soon as Yri saw Command lying on the ground, he called 911. "I felt for a pulse and couldn't feel anything. And I asked Emmanuel if he could feel anything," said Yri. He took the initiative and started doing CPR.
"Next thing I know, I'm in the emergency room at Straub. And the doctor is asking me all these questions trying to figure out if I'm ok. And he says, you know, you're really lucky guy and I said, why? And he says because there was someone there so save your life that knew CPR," said Command.
He spent the next 11 days in the hospital and had the opportunity to meet his Silversword lifesavers. Command says that unexpected situations like this shows how important it is to learn CPR.
"I don't know how I can repay them for what they did. If they weren't there, I would be dead today," said Command. "My birthday is April 11, 1958…but my birthday now is February 6, 2011, it was my second birthday there."
Copyright 2011 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
Executive assistant to Hawaii county Mayor Bill Kenoi, Bobby Command was visiting the Chaminade campus with his family on February 5th to watch a high school basketball game. He went to his car when he started to feel a little uneasy. "Suddenly got really dizzy. I had some problems with my heart before so I kind of knew what was happening. I was beginning to faint," said Command.
Command collapsed and went into full cardiac arrest. Treston Silva so happened to be nearby when he saw Command on the ground. Glenn Yri remembers when he came rushing to help. As soon as Yri saw Command lying on the ground, he called 911. "I felt for a pulse and couldn't feel anything. And I asked Emmanuel if he could feel anything," said Yri. He took the initiative and started doing CPR.
"Next thing I know, I'm in the emergency room at Straub. And the doctor is asking me all these questions trying to figure out if I'm ok. And he says, you know, you're really lucky guy and I said, why? And he says because there was someone there so save your life that knew CPR," said Command.
He spent the next 11 days in the hospital and had the opportunity to meet his Silversword lifesavers. Command says that unexpected situations like this shows how important it is to learn CPR.
"I don't know how I can repay them for what they did. If they weren't there, I would be dead today," said Command. "My birthday is April 11, 1958…but my birthday now is February 6, 2011, it was my second birthday there."
Copyright 2011 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
How cool is this!!!
Flagler Palm Coast High School student Chris Cooper saved his father’s life by performing CPR on him while his father was in cardiac arrest. But, his father says, he’s still not getting a car.
Chris Cooper, a 15-year-old Flagler Palm Coast High School sophomore, has never been the type to crack under pressure.
Coming home from school one day in late January, he found his father, 45-year-old David Cooper, complaining of stomach pain.
“He couldn’t get comfortable, moving (back and forth) from his room to the couch,” Chris said. “And he was burping incessantly.”
Chris went online to research his father’s symptoms. That’s when the chest pain and arm numbness started.
“We heard a crash,” Chris said. He ran in to find David on the ground, unconscious and blue in the face. He’d had a massive heart attack.
Chris yelled for his mother to call the paramedics; then he took the phone. At first, Chris was relaying instructions to her, but “she was freaking out,” he said. “She was too crazy.”
Chris took charge.
“I got this,” he told his mother, extending his arm out in front of her for space. Then he turned his attention to the emergency services operator on the phone.
“Give me a crash course in CPR!” he recalled yelling into the receiver. “(But) she was stuttering”, he said, “and I was like, ‘No time!’ … I was off the phone in five seconds.”
Days later, looking toward his smiling father, Chris recounted the event. “I pinched (your nose) right away. (I) made sure your chest rose. Made sure you were getting air,” he said.
Chris has no formal CPR training. He thinks maybe he learned the technique subconsciously from watching TV. “I watch ‘House,’” he said.
In three minutes on the day of the incident, the paramedics arrived and rushed David to the hospital, where he stayed in the intensive care unit for two weeks.
“I didn’t think of it as heroic, or saving anyone’s life,” Chris said. “I just thought of it as necessity.”
David’s heart had stopped beating for 31 minutes. One of his arteries was 100% clogged, according to doctors.
“Every hole had a tube in it,” David said. “And they even made some new holes. … (The doctors) said I … died three times on the table.”
David now has a Pacemaker and defibrillator built into his chest.
“I’m like robo-dad,” he joked. “Doctors said it was nothing short of a miracle that I was alive. (They told me), ‘You would not be here if not for your son. And if you were, you’d be a vegetable.’”
Currently, David is taking 17 different medications. His wife of nearly 20 years spent roughly 16 hours a day by his side every day he was hospitalized.
Back home, in the Coopers’ RiverGate community, the neighborhood reaction was “amazing,” David said. “Half of them — I don’t even know half of them, dude — were bringing over full-blown meals. It was absolutely heartwarming.”
The Coopers have only lived in Palm Coast for about six months. They moved here from New Jersey for the cheaper costs of living, so they could spend more time together, as a family.
“I feel like there’s still a lot of work for me to do,” David said, “as a husband, a father … But I’m still not buying you a car,” he teased Chris, who grinned. The city of Palm Coast recognized Chris Cooper at a City Council meeting Tuesday March 1. When Mayor John Netts asked if he’d like to make a statement to the board, Chris kept it simple.
“I didn’t really think about anything at the time,” he said. “It’s not a big deal, is how I thought about it. Just natural instinct. But I’m glad he’s here still.”
Chris Cooper, a 15-year-old Flagler Palm Coast High School sophomore, has never been the type to crack under pressure.
Coming home from school one day in late January, he found his father, 45-year-old David Cooper, complaining of stomach pain.
“He couldn’t get comfortable, moving (back and forth) from his room to the couch,” Chris said. “And he was burping incessantly.”
Chris went online to research his father’s symptoms. That’s when the chest pain and arm numbness started.
“We heard a crash,” Chris said. He ran in to find David on the ground, unconscious and blue in the face. He’d had a massive heart attack.
Chris yelled for his mother to call the paramedics; then he took the phone. At first, Chris was relaying instructions to her, but “she was freaking out,” he said. “She was too crazy.”
Chris took charge.
“I got this,” he told his mother, extending his arm out in front of her for space. Then he turned his attention to the emergency services operator on the phone.
“Give me a crash course in CPR!” he recalled yelling into the receiver. “(But) she was stuttering”, he said, “and I was like, ‘No time!’ … I was off the phone in five seconds.”
Days later, looking toward his smiling father, Chris recounted the event. “I pinched (your nose) right away. (I) made sure your chest rose. Made sure you were getting air,” he said.
Chris has no formal CPR training. He thinks maybe he learned the technique subconsciously from watching TV. “I watch ‘House,’” he said.
In three minutes on the day of the incident, the paramedics arrived and rushed David to the hospital, where he stayed in the intensive care unit for two weeks.
“I didn’t think of it as heroic, or saving anyone’s life,” Chris said. “I just thought of it as necessity.”
David’s heart had stopped beating for 31 minutes. One of his arteries was 100% clogged, according to doctors.
“Every hole had a tube in it,” David said. “And they even made some new holes. … (The doctors) said I … died three times on the table.”
David now has a Pacemaker and defibrillator built into his chest.
“I’m like robo-dad,” he joked. “Doctors said it was nothing short of a miracle that I was alive. (They told me), ‘You would not be here if not for your son. And if you were, you’d be a vegetable.’”
Currently, David is taking 17 different medications. His wife of nearly 20 years spent roughly 16 hours a day by his side every day he was hospitalized.
Back home, in the Coopers’ RiverGate community, the neighborhood reaction was “amazing,” David said. “Half of them — I don’t even know half of them, dude — were bringing over full-blown meals. It was absolutely heartwarming.”
The Coopers have only lived in Palm Coast for about six months. They moved here from New Jersey for the cheaper costs of living, so they could spend more time together, as a family.
“I feel like there’s still a lot of work for me to do,” David said, “as a husband, a father … But I’m still not buying you a car,” he teased Chris, who grinned. The city of Palm Coast recognized Chris Cooper at a City Council meeting Tuesday March 1. When Mayor John Netts asked if he’d like to make a statement to the board, Chris kept it simple.
“I didn’t really think about anything at the time,” he said. “It’s not a big deal, is how I thought about it. Just natural instinct. But I’m glad he’s here still.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)