Something important I didn’t know about CPR & Heimlich Maneuver …..
According to Mr. Maniam (VP of Asia Pre-Hospital & fire Rescue Federation Association) 90% of the emergency cases where people were brought in by the ambulance to the hospital were usually as good as dead when arrived. And this can be greatly reduced if the general public were to take the trouble to know more about CPR and Heimlich Manuever. His talk was organised by BNI held last Saturday. After his talk, I felt compelled to write about it, as Life & Health is also related to Wealth and Financial well being. Please read through the important things that I was being enlightened during his 3 hours session.
CPR stands for Cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In layman term it actually means help to maintain blood circulation and air exchange in the lungs manually. When the ambulance arrive, machines and electronic equipments will take over the job. – So CPR is not so much for reviving someone but to prolong the life of the person by ensuring blood with oxygen reaches the brain.
Cardio –The purpose of pumping the chest of the victim with both hands is to squeeze & release the heart so that it can continue to pump blood around the body especially to the brain. When the blood is not circulating is the condition is called clinically dead. (but not legally dead yet). The brain cells can live without oxygen for 4 to 6 minutes. Beyond 6 minutes there will be a high chance of brain damage. After 10 minutes of being clinically dead, irreversible damage to the brain is almost certain.
Pulmonary – The purpose of mouth to mouth resuscitation is to help to continue the respiratory function of the lungs by blowing in ‘new’ air into the lungs and letting out the ‘old air’. This will in turn help to increase the oxygen level in the blood. How long does the rescuer need to do the CPR? Well it is actually until the person wakes up, or until the ambulance come, or until the rescuer collapse from exhaustion.
Heimlich Manuever – One of the most common causes of choke is pieces of food entering the air-way instead of the esophagus. For minor choke, the person will be able to cough out the food. However if the piece of food is big enough, it will completely block up the air-way. The purpose of HM is to push the stomach in, in order to force the diaphragm up. This will force the air out from the lungs pushing the piece of food out, dislodging it from the air-way. So HM is not about some magical manoeuvre with your fist into someone’s stomach and miraculously the food will come out from the mouth.
Where is the position of the heart? On the left side? Wrong! It is not at the left side of the body. It is at the centre of the chest but usually tilted. The bottom tip of the heart called the apex (strongest part of the heart), and it is usually tilted to the left. That’s why while performing the chest press, the hands are place at the center of the chest of patient, not on the left side.
Angina - This is a symptom where plague is building up along the walls of the arteries to the heart muscles. When 3 of the coronary arteries are blocked for more than 60%, the person affected can claim under ‘coronary artery disease’; one of the 36 illnesses coverage.
Heart attack - This happens when the angina got so bad that one or more of the arteries to the heart are blocked, thus not enough oxygen is being delivered to the heart muscles and the heart began to die. The person affected will have chest pain and cold sweat.
Heart seizure - Heart seizure is not heart attack. Heart seizure is a condition when the heart stops pumping blood. The lower chamber of the heart quivers instead of pumping blood. This is condition is very serious and requires immediate attention, otheriwise the person affected will die. As for heart attack although is potentially dangerous, it allows a short period of waiting time before treatment arrives. This is probably the reason why Heart Attack is listed as one of the 36 illnesses and not heart seizure, because heart seizure will most likely end up as death claim.
The tongue - when a person is unconcious and lying on the floor, the first thing about CPR is to ensure that the person is breathing. Next is to clear the airway. This is done by lifting up the chin (head tilt backwards). To my surpirse, lifting up the chin is actually to ensure that the tongue does not block the airway. According to Mr. Maniam, when a person is unconcious the tongue will usually soften and retreat to back of the throat because of gravity (when lying down facing upward), and this will block the airway causing suffocation.
Please check out other web sites or sign up for first-aid courses to find out more detains about the above for the safety of your love ones and yourself. I think every family member (even the maids also) must learn CPR. Every office should have at least 2-3 persons who knows CPR. Tow truck operators usually arrives at the scene of accident faster than the ambulance should all be trained in CPR.