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ACM Minutes, Wednesday, June 12, 2024, 7:00 pm

Topics: CPR 'training' (unofficial)

Present: Emily, Scott, Kris (guest), Lila, Vicky, Joe, Lynda, Laura

CPR 'Training'

Emily is trained in CPR but isn't a trainer, so this isn't officially a training.  A number of people in the community are or have been certified; we want to increase the number certified by having people attend official trainings.

Utah has a Good Samaritan law.  You won't get in trouble if you are trying to save the person.  Do Not Resuscitate orders are applicable only to medical professionals in a hospital setting.

You don't need to call EMT for a seizure as long as the person is breathing.

If someone is down on the ground or slumped in a chair, check it out. In the first five to ten seconds,

  • Talk to the person, "Are you okay, [name]?"  If you don't know their name, call them "Annie".
  • See if they are rousable,
  • Check their pulse. The carotid is the easiest to find.
  • Check for respiration.  Hold your hand in front of their mouth.

  • Check whether the person is wearing an emergency bracelet. 

If they are nonresponsive and don't have a pulse, call 911 and put the phone on speaker.  Note the time you found the person, to tell the emergency responders.

If a second person is available, send them to get the AED and/or find immediate help.  The AED is on the wall in the office (the little room near the coat racks, stairs, & the mailroom door), straight ahead when you open the door.

Note: The bell in front of the common house is a community-wide call for a meeting, a meal, or an emergency. Blowing a whistle is another emergency signal.  Discourage children from ringing the bell ("Don't ring the bell unless it's an emergency or you have enough food to feed twenty people"). 

You will start chest compressions. 

Get ready:

  • If nobody is available to send for the AED, don't bother with it, as getting the AED and setting it up will use critical time the person doesn't have. 
  • If it is winter, remove any heavy sweaters or coats the person is wearing, since they will cushion your compressions too much.
  • If the person is sitting, get behind them and slide your arms under their arm pits.  Ease them to the floor or other hard surface.
  • Don't worry about a pillow for their head if one isn't immediately available.

To do compressions:

  • Lay the person on a hard surface like the floor.
  • Kneel beside the person. Find the sternum, between the nipples. 
  • Link your hands. A common position is to put one on top of the other, with the top hand's fingers curled down between the lower fingers.
  • Press down about 2" then lift up, all the way to allow recoil.  If you are doing it correctly, you will bruise them and may crack their ribs. Better broken ribs than no oxygen for several minutes. Ribs heal! 
  • Do 100 compressions per minute, which is the speed of The BeeGees song "Staying Alive." 
  • Do thirty compressions then check whether they are breathing. If they aren't, give them two breaths. If you aren't comfortable doing breaths, the chest compressions are more important anyway. 
  • To do breaths, go to the person's head.  Tilt the head back. Take a deep breath, breathe into their mouth.  Take a deep breath, breathe into their mouth.  Resume compressions.

It quickly becomes exhausting.  If someone else is available, trade off every 2 minutes.  If multiple people are available, line them up to take turns doing compressions. A person who isn't doing compressions can keep track of time.  (At 100 compressions per minute, two minutes is six or seven cycles of 30 compressions plus breaths.) 

Keep doing compressions until the person is breathing, until the AED asks you to stop, or the EMTs arrive, which can be ten or fifteen minutes. 

If an AED is available and if someone is available to go get it, to use an AED:

  • Pull the case open. Sometimes the lid is designed to slide under the neck and shoulders to tilt the head back and provide a hard surface for compressions.
  • Push the power button on the AED.
  • Remove the person's upper clothes.  The pads must be on bare skin.
  • The adult pads are connected to the AED. Switch to the pediatric pads if the person is less than about eleven or twelve years of age or smaller than a small adult.
  • Position one pad above the left breast and the other below the right breast.
  • The AED will check for heart rhythm. It will say something like "Analyzing". Continue doing compressions unless the machine asks you to stop.
  • If the AED decides a shock will be helpful, it will say "Shock advised" or something similiar
  • The AED will say to stand clear.  Remove your hands from the person. 
  • Once nobody is touching the person, press the button for the shock.
  • The AED will analyze whether the shock was effective at restarting the person's heart or whether to resume compressions.

If a person already has a pacer or defibrillator, you can still use an AED.  If their heart isn't beating, the pacer isn't working.  An AED can figure out whether it can shock the person.  Not all heart problems are shockable.

On a baby, use your fingers or thumbs for CPR and don't press as hard, because you can blow out a lung. Usually your arm is strong enough to hold the baby and you don't need to put them on the ground, unless you are using the AED. If you put them on the ground, put padding under them.  The compression speed is slightly faster, but "Staying Alive" still works.  The AED can tell if you are using a pediatric pad and will reduce the shock.

Emily's notes

  • I will explain it first and mention this is NOT a certifiable course 
  • Demonstrate with Michael as my patient (unless someone else wants to volunteer)
  • Answer any questions 
  • Have everyone get into 2-3ppl groups (depending on how many ppl attend) 
  • Using a large pillow practice CPR 
  • Will explain how 1 person CPR vs 2+ person CPR changes the steps throughout the lesson 
  • CardioPulmonary Resusitation (CPR)
    •  and maybe 1-2 facts about CPR or AEDs 
  • Explain how to guide a person to the ground 
    • Hard surface is ideal
  • If already on the ground assess person this should take 10 seconds 
    • Check to see if patient is responsive  
    • Check pulse 
    • Check breathing 
  • If person is not responding and has no pulse 
    • ALWAYS 1st thing, Call 911 (if by yourself put on speaker phone)
    • If 2+, one person starts the compression, one gets the AED and ring bell to alert more people help is needed 
    • If you are by yourself start CPR until more help arrives pumping the heart immediately is most important at this moment
    • Start CPR:

1. Place the heel of your hand in the center of the person's chest.

2. Place the palm of your other hand on top.

3. Press down 2–2.5 inches at a rate of 100–120 compressions per minute (play BeeGees Stayin Alive).

4. Allow the chest to fully recoil between each compression

5. After 30 compressions, tilt the person's head back, lift their chin, and pinch their nose.

6. Give two slow, gentle breaths.

7. Check that their chest rises.

8. Repeat the cycle of 30 compressions and 2 breaths until the person starts to recover or emergency help arrives

  • If AED arrives to the scene 
  1. Turn the device ON, 
  2. Expose the persons chest 
  3. Apply electrodes to dry skin 
  4. Allow AED to anaylze 
  5. Tell everyone to stand clear 
  6. Deliver the Shock to the person by pressing the shock button 
  7. The AED will then assess and let you know whether you need to continue CPR or if a rhythm is detected  
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