First Aid Skilz

Personnel at my gym are required to be certified as with CPR and the automated defibrillator.

Man, things have changed since I took this course when I was 14 or so.  The AED was not a common piece of first aid equipment and the CPR procedure has changed quite a bit.   Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, ferinstance, you were supposed to do 4 compressions to 2 breaths.  The ratio is now 30 to 2 on adults.

The equipment is different, too.  Does anyone remember those Annie dolls?  Creepy as they are, you now practice  on a bald torso, which is creepier and use a mask.  I was an idiot and forgot to buy myself the glove and mask kit I’m suppose to carry now.  I wasn’t told going in, but if you take the course, you’re suppose to render aid if needed, even when you’re not on the job.   I mean, God, who wouldn’t!  But they make a big deal of that now.

Glad to have the info, of course, but golly I hope I’ll never need it.

I have to say I don’t much like the dolls they have now, as they don’t have a feedback mechanism to make sure you’ve got the respiration right.  The old Annie dolls did.  I can only suppose they’re ruinously expensive.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.