First Aid/CPR Course

by Connie Kent

About forty residents recently completed a First Aid/CPR training course organized by RPG (Residents Preparedness Group) Medical Team Leader Linda Spence, and funded jointly by RPG and the Residents Council. The goal is to prepare us for an emergency. It may be an individual crisis, or something big that affects us all, like the expected Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. When The Big One happens, there will be far too much for the RVM staff to handle alone, so residents can expect to need to help each other.

EMT professional Lorri Lowe provided four three-hour instructional sessions for ten students each, including video and lecture as well as hands-on components. In any emergency, the first thing we learned to do is ensure the safety of the environment, ourselves, and the patient.

If you’re choking, we learned how to correctly perform the Heimlich Maneuver. If you have a sudden injury, we learned an acronym to determine what kind of response is appropriate. Quickly using DOTS, we assess your injuries. We look for:

          D – deformities  

          O – open wounds

          T – tenderness

          S – swelling

If there’s life-threatening bleeding and you’re in shock, we learned how to deal with it.

In the case of a sudden illness, and if you are conscious, we take an oral history, using SAMPLE:

          S for signs and symptoms (Where does it hurt?)

          A for allergies (Do you have any allergies?)

          M for medications (Are you on any medications?)

          P for past medical history (Has this happened to you before?)

          L for last oral intake (What have you had to eat or drink?)

          E for event (What were you doing?)

If appropriate, we call or ask someone nearby to call 9-1-1.

We learned how to treat closed wounds and burns. We learned the signs of stroke and what to do if you have a heart attack or are suffering from low blood sugar. If you are not in your normal mental state, we assume “implied consent” and provide whatever assistance might be appropriate.

If resuscitation is necessary, we learned how perform CPR.

Bob Spence practicing CPR

Mouth-to-mouth is no longer required. Some participants practiced giving chest compressions to dummies on the floor, but most practiced on the tables. The patient needs to be on a firm surface. If you need CPR and you’re in bed, we’ll grab your sheet to  help move you quickly onto the floor. 

The dummies were equipped with a yellow light to indicate whether we were pressing down hard enough. We learned that we had to put our full weight behind the compressions. Here is Bob Spence demonstrating the correct position.

We learned how to use the AED (Automatic External Defibrillation) kits to provide electrical stimulation if your heart stops.

AED Kit

These kits are located in the Manor outside the dining rooms and gym, in the RVM Security Vehicle, and at the Asante Clinic, the Health Center, Memory Care, the golf course and the Annex. If you’re planning a cardiac arrest, those would be a good places to be. If you’re someplace else, we will send someone running for one.

We learned that we need an Emergency Action Plan, and Lorri recommended some things that should be included in our first aid kits. I’m hoping you don’t have an individual emergency and that Oregon doesn’t suffer a major catastrophe at all. Ever. But if an emergency does arise, maybe it should happen soon, while all this is still fresh in our minds.

We expect to have more classes offered in the Fall, and and resource materials will be included in the RPG Manual that is in development.

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