Mastering a Skill

Mastering a Skill (First Aid/CPR)

The skills that I believe people should master are basic First Aid and CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation). A course in First Aid and CPR, will teach vital life saving techniques such as the Heimlich maneuver. Imagine for a moment that a loved one starts having chest pains and numbness in there arms. Do you know what medical conditions cause these symptoms? If you do know, are you prepared to help in a medical emergency such as heart attack, near drowning, or choking accident? There is nothing worse than feeling helpless when a loved needs immediate medical attention. To avoid this feeling of helplessness learn basic First Aid and CPR. They are life saving techniques.

A Heart attack or cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at anytime. If you know First Aid and CPR you will be able to recognize the symptoms of a heart attack, such as chest pain that may last several minutes and numbness spreading to the shoulders, neck or arms. If you recognize the symptoms you can begin emergency first aid treatment like CPR while you wait for the ambulance to arrive. People who suffer a heart attack are more likely to survive if they receive emergency first aid treatment like CPR. A heart attack or cardiac arrest can be reversed if you know what to do.

If you learn First Aid and CPR you will be able to start a chain reaction of survival that will deliver oxygen rich blood to vital organs. When the heart stops, the lack of oxygen rich blood can cause irreversible damage to the brain in only a few minutes. Death will occur within 8 to 10 minutes. Oxygen rich blood keeps vital organs such as the brain functioning until help arrives.

I would like to provide a couple of scenarios were first aid and CPR may be very useful. In the first scenario you are at a Fourth of July picnic celebrating the holiday with your family. The children are swimming and having a good time. One of them goes out to the deep end of the pool and begins to panic and goes under for a minute or two. While underwater the child gets water in there lungs. Once the child is pulled to safety, if you have learned and mastered First Aid and CPR you can administer it at once. Administering CPR will help the child to clear there lungs of unwanted water and restore breathing.

Another scenario is, imagine you are out to dinner with your significant other. Some one at the table next to you starts choking. You rush over to help, by administering the Heimlich maneuver, which you also learned at your First Aid and CPR training, and clear the blockage, but for some

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