There were about twenty people in the village Hall when I arrived for defib training last night. There were two teachers from the school, curly haired Maureen representing the Friendship Group, Mrs Trellis waving the flag for the church and a bloke I didn't know from the Male voice choir all sitting politely waiting for the fun to begin . Sandra, the popular village Hall's caretaker, various members of the Hall committee and a smattering of villagers made up the numbers, villagers which included local farmer Med, a father and his ten year old son and a young woman from the new bungalows.
Not a bad turn out all told.
The training was carried out by the local first responders who are self funded volunteers and who often get to arrest situations before the paramedics in this rural part of Wales. Our trainers were a primary school teacher a pharmacist and an ambulance driver.
Sandra kicked off the giggling by being unable to get the combination right on the defib case outside the hall which was a good start, then, Mrs Trellis, a slight lady at the best of times had noticable difficulty compressing the chest of resus dummy adequately!
" You can always use your foot" the trainer suggested helpfully
" not with these heels on" she countered.
Mrs Trellis has an unhurried ,precise and intensely mannered way about her, so I had to smile when she uncovered the defib pads with all the delicacy of a Japanese tea lady and placed them with infinate care upon the dummy. Pleased with what she had done she sat back to survey her work for a few seconds before starting chest compressions once more.
" Have I forgotten anything? " she chirped
" You need to switch the machine on" the responder suggested.
During the group chat, Farmer Med, who is a world travelled hiker, stumped the trainers for a few seconds with his
" What do I do if someone has a heart attack up the Himalayas?"
"Do the best you can " came the reply
When all else fails, check to see if you turned the thing on - kind of like a ____, oh I won't go there.
ReplyDeleteThat's probably the reply for ANY unanswerable question -- "Do the best you can!"
ReplyDeleteI've never heard the advice to use a foot. I never would have thought of that!
I was trained in that once. Particular attention was given to refib on babies, with instructions to use two fingers only, as using both hands would crush the baby to death in any case!
ReplyDeleteI had to look up resus.
ReplyDeleteI read it as rebus or jesus with typos.
DeleteLike Herod for Heron.
DeleteI could only think of rhesus monkey/ resus dummy?
DeleteI saw rebus of Ian Rankin and Jesus of Nazareth when I saw the word. I see not medical words in my mind's eye.
DeleteI have not been seeing Heron or Herod at all of late but he has mysteriously reappeared tonight.
DeleteMrs trellis where are you when we need you
DeleteAmen
DeleteRather glad I don't live round your way - or is it the same everywhere do you think?
ReplyDeleteDo the best you can, a great advice in any situation really. Have a nice weekend!
ReplyDeleteDo the best you can is wise advice. It covers us all.
ReplyDeleteWe did this in our village. My dummy would have died as I didn't press down hard enough.
ReplyDeleteGood idea to have that class there. Important stuff one doesn't always think of, get aired. (Like turn it on)
ReplyDeleteRemind me not to have any need for the defib in your village lol. I may die giggling.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations and well done to all who attended FOR attending!
ReplyDeleteLife saving classes are a terrific reason to get the village together! I wonder how many lives will benefit from CPR in the future.
ReplyDeleteYou remind me that I need to reup my CPR techniques. They are woefully out of date.
ReplyDeleteI took a CPR training many years ago . . .
ReplyDeleteToday I would have to rely on . . .
Do the best you can . . .
Forgive more typos than usual typing this post on the beach! Very hot!
DeleteI have always said to the children ,do the best you can or
ReplyDelete"Ganbatte" in Japanese., with the little fist pump. Works for me.
I love Mrs. Trellis.
cheers, parsnip and thehamish
In the 80's I was a student nurse on a medical ward on the night shift. A male patient was 'wired' up to a monitor and a colleague found the line flat, panicked, thumped him on the chest to resuscitate him. He was asleep, awoke in a start frightening the nurse who duly fainted. When the night matron arrived to do her checks, to her horror she found the male patient in the kitchen making the passed-out nurse a cup of tea! We dined out on this story for ages.
ReplyDeleteHahaha..... Such a visual post!
DeleteIt's brilliant that so many turned out, it shows a real level of village comradeship. Let's just hope though that it doesn't have to be used.
ReplyDeleteI took a two day Level 3 first aid which covered everything from cup of tea scalds to backwoods catastrophe. The instructor was a humourless, egotistical twerp and we were all thoroughly sick of him by the end. The practical part of the test consisted of verbally given individual scenarios and having to treat the volunteer patient accordingly. One guy had had enough and when the instructor returned said "oh you said femur, I thought you said finger" and gestured a heavily bandaged middle finger at the twerp. It was sweet.
ReplyDeleteEchoing everyone else 'do the best you can' is advice to live by.
ReplyDeleteJust recertified after 30 plus years. Our trainer had a great sense of humor. Told us numerous times. .. do your best, after all what are they if you do nothing... dead.
ReplyDeleteI used to be a first aider at work and have been to many of these. Originally we were taught to sing Nelly the Elephant and time the compressions to that. Later on we were told to sing Staying Alive, I wonder which tune is now used,
ReplyDeleteI was a nelly man
DeleteThere is no polite reply to that John!
ReplyDeleteYou couldn't make this stuff up.
ReplyDelete