CPR certified!

I'm officially CPR certified! That's right...I even have a certification card in my wallet to prove it.

I had to get trained in a CPR course in order to teach classes at the theater I'm working at. It was fascinating learning all about how to save someone's life in an emergency. I learned about using a defibrillator and was surprised at how easy it is to use. I guess it has to be easy when you are under such pressure and a time limit. (You've only got about 10 minutes to bring someone back to life...that's a lot of pressure to do what you can while you wait for paramedics to come!) 

I learned a few interesting things in addition to the normal course: 

• Hot dogs and popcorn are the main things that children and adults choke on. The heimlich maneuver works most of the time....and if you are alone, you can use a chair. 
• If an infant/child under 7 stops breathing, it is more important to start doing CPR for 5 reps and then call 9-1-1 because you want to keep their blood flowing rather than wasting time on the phone. Their brain and organs shut down faster than adults if they don't have oxygen. So you do CPR and then call 9-1-1. My natural instinct would be the opposite.
• They've changed CPR in recent years...you don't need to administer rescue breaths on adults if you don't want to. You can just do lots and lots of compressions till the paramedics arrive and they have just as good survival rates as if you were giving them breaths as well. 
• If you have a nosebleed, you should tip your head forward. When I was growing up, we were told to tip our head backwards.

When I went into the class I felt insecure about doing more harm than good to a person in an emergency. (i.e. breaking ribs doing compressions)  The teachers made it clear that the person is already on their way to death, so no matter what you do, anything is better than nothing. That made me feel better.  

It is expensive to get certified (luckily the theater paid for it!) but it seems it should really be something that every person learns!  I think it should be a requirement every few years to take a course because I learned so much and it was so helpful if I ever need it. 

It just so happened that 2 weeks later, I took an infant safety course with Jeff and learned even more! We signed up for a package of classes at our hospital in preparation for childbirth. We just went to one of them which was all about infant CPR, SIDS, car seats, etc. It was fascinating! Here I am practicing on the baby dummy. :) Jeff had to get a picture of my skills. Ha.  So now I'm ready to save lives...although I hope I don't have to!