Good call Bruce.

As an electrician we use to have to do a refresher course every 6months.

We were told by the instructors that (and this is pretty f@cked) if there is someone else around that can do CPR, let them do it,dont be a hero as there have been many times that the person trying to help have done more damage than good and have ended up in the sh!t.

Its so wrong that someone trying to save someones life the best they can , can end up in court and getting fined.

Everyone should know basic CPR, not hard to learn, even reading how to do it on the net is better than having no idea at all. but a proper lesson is cheap and quick to learn. Most surfclubs will be more than happy to give you a run down on what to do.

lotofwind said...

As an electrician we use to have to do a refresher course every 6months.

We were told by the instructors that (and this is pretty f@cked) if there is someone else around that can do CPR, let them do it,dont be a hero as there have been many times that the person trying to help have done more damage than good and have ended up in the sh!t.

Its so wrong that someone trying to save someones life the best they can , can end up in court and getting fined.

Everyone should know basic CPR, not hard to learn, even reading how to do it on the net is better than having no idea at all. but a proper lesson is cheap and quick to learn. Most surfclubs will be more than happy to give you a run down on what to do.

Lotofwind,

sadly this is the society we live in nowadays. that's why it is important to have that piece of paper that says you are trained in performing CPR.

also, it is important to remember that if an injured person refuses to be treated, then back off immediately. you can be charged with assault if you insist of performing first aid.

my 2 cents..

As an ambulance paramedic who has done hepas of resus jobs, here's a few guidelines...

Something is better than nothing... if you choose not do to mouth to mouth thats your choice but at least do chest compressions...

Do those compressions HARD and fast.. i would rather wake up with fractured ribs than not wake up at all..

CPR will not save someone by itself (some rare exceptions), CPR keep the heart viable for defibrillation which is what it needs..

It takes a lot of courage to step in there and start CPR, its physically demanding ( but adrenaline is wonderful to keep you going) and you CAN make a difference..

Be safe

lotofwind said...

As an electrician we use to have to do a refresher course every 6months.

We were told by the instructors that (and this is pretty f@cked) if there is someone else around that can do CPR, let them do it,dont be a hero as there have been many times that the person trying to help have done more damage than good and have ended up in the sh!t.

Its so wrong that someone trying to save someones life the best they can , can end up in court and getting fined.

Everyone should know basic CPR, not hard to learn, even reading how to do it on the net is better than having no idea at all. but a proper lesson is cheap and quick to learn. Most surfclubs will be more than happy to give you a run down on what to do.

Never ever hesitate, get to work asap as you would hope they'd do for you. It's someone's life, once it's gone it's gone for good, no coming back.

If you don't know how to do CPR, do a course now. In my 20's I pulled an unconscious & blue child out of the water but didn't know what to do, luckily someone else did and she saved his life, he was as good as dead. It's a terrible feeling of hopelessness to stand there not knowing what to do, I did a course that week.

First day I arrived at work in Australia for a project a guy fell over and had a heart attack at 7am in the morning while only 3 of us were in the office. Normally there would be no one there but we were there early because we wanted to do prep for our first day at the customer. One of the guys with us knew CPR due to a compulsory management course that had been completed about a week earlier at their mine site. Ambulance was on the spot within 8 minutes in rush hour in Melbourne central and with the combination of the pre-ambulance CPR and the paramedics. 3 ribs were broken during CPR which is apparently a good thing - the scary part is the guy was only 35 with no symptoms.

Apparently only 10% of people every survive which is a startlingly low statistic, probably escalated by the lack of general CPR knowledge in most offices although I'm sure this is probably increased by those who have a heart attack when no one is around to help. It was the biggest wake up call I've ever experienced and I ended up taking CPR lessons because if that one person hadn't been with us, I don't know what I would have done. Its a horrible position to be in when you are sitting there helpless and all you can do to assist is phone the paramedics and then call out their instructions over the phone. I also have the utmost respect for the paramedics who arrived, were completely calm under pressure and the circumstances, and managed to get his heart beating again and stabilise him before taking him in. He underwent open heart surgery and was back in the office within a couple of months.

I am 24 now and was a junior lifesaver "nipper" from the age of 5 through to becoming a surf life saver. I was told by my parents that i wasnt allowed to surf by myself at our holiday spot on the south coast (an unpatrolled beach) unless i stayed with nippers until finishing at the age of 14. I left surf life saving to pursue surfing and soccer around that age. From the age of 13 till 20, when we sold our caravan, myself and a few mates pulled at least 30+ people out of rips. Generally 5-10 every summer as the crowd on this beach would be around 1000 people on a hot shcool holidays day. When i was 16 i was out surfing with 2 mates when a few kids were sucked off the back of a sandbar about 100 metres away from where we were surfing. We took the kids in on our boards and one of the girls aged about 8 was crying and saying her dad was still out there. The father had tried to swim out and help the kids, who were all still holding onto 1 bodyboard. We took the kids down the coast 50 metres and paddled in through the waves rather than straight back in against the rip. I paddled back out with a mate thinking the girl had it all wrong and her father must be on the shore somewhere. We were wrong and found him a metre underwater out cold. He was a big bloke and it took us about 15 minutes to get him in. We struggled to keep him on a board so we couldnt try resus in the water. my board was a 5'10' and he was im guessing about 120Kg and i was about 65Kg at the time. When we got to the shore i was F*cked because i was swimming with the legrope on and my mate was holding this bloke on my board. At the shore my mate started CPR and a few other blokes ran over to help. i left the beach after 30 mins of CPR/resus, my mate is still pretty f*cked up over it, he had to continue CPR for an hour because you cant stop CPR until someone has called him dead, when the chopper arrived. If you have kids and live anywhere near the beach get them into nippers. Im not as strong a swimmer as i was at 18 but i never find myself in trouble and il surf in over 6ft, nippers will teach you how to read the beach and mainly 'how to stay calm'. Ive had more than 1 person try to drown me because they cant stay afloat and panic. what you learn in nippers will save someones life, its just a matter of when. Ive pulled people out of the water 20 metres from the shore in 2m deep water and they were in alot of ****. I cant stress enough how safe the beach can be if you've been taught about it. Send your kids to nippers and breath easy

From doing outdoorsy type stuff, the version of the story I heard was that you could not be sued for starting resuscitation, but you can be sued (by the family) for stopping without someone legally able to declare someone dead making that call.

Then again that might be an urban legend, and I am sure that you could defend yourself with a reasonableness defence.

This might be totally wrong, but I heard you can't sue for someone who is dead? For example say you stopped resus and the person died, you can't be sued by a family member for death of the person. Or your son got run over by a car, you can't sue the driver for loss of life? True or not?