- Elisabeth Fairbairn
CPR - Give the gift of life this Christmas
Updated: Jan 11, 2020
There are many things we always ‘intend’ to do - learn self defence, steam clean the rugs, repaint the skirtings, take a CPR course.
Let me tell you why that last one is one to prioritise! Whether you are a new or experienced parent or someone who believes in helping others and doing good - this is an absolutely essential and yet easy skill to learn! And the difference can literally be between life and death.
Having worked in A+E and acute nursing for many many years - I’ve seen firsthand the results of cardiac arrest, in both children and adults. I’ve also seen and spoken to people who have been there to help and those who haven’t felt they were able to or hadn’t done something right.
Two of the most important criteria Doctors discuss when thinking about whether someone may make it or not (and where their care may be heading) are the ‘downtime’ (time after the person arrested and before anyone started CPR) and the ‘quality’ of the CPR that was given.
Whilst its an easy to learn skill it can bring up lots of questions which why I would always suggest a face to face training session with an experienced trainer and practical dummies to try it on.
Not to mention that from September 2020 - secondary school pupils will have teaching on CPR and it’s always good to understand the skills and questions they may have, especially in such a potentially emotive topic!
No blog can teach you CPR - I could give you stats or algorithms or what to do when but it will mean very little in the real world. All I can do is impress upon you how important this skill is to learn.
So I shall end with my top 5 reasons to learn CPR:
Cross it off that ‘I shall at some point…’ list in just one quick session!
Excellent skill to have on your CV - shows you’re altruistic!
Its a quick easy skill to learn
Never worry you didn’t do the best you could in an emergency
You may genuinely give someone the gift of life - there’s no better reason
Click here to see our Family CPR course and book yourself on!
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