Wow...had to call 911 for someone on my walk this AM

Wow, I'm so glad you were around for that poor old guy.  I hope he's going to be okay.

I usually do have my cell with me when I walk the dogs.  I walk the same route all the time & know what looks right & what doesn't.  Fortunately I haven't had to use my phone for emergencies when walking the boys but I have it with me in case.

This is a subject near and dear to my heart -- I wish EVERYONE would take Basic First Aid and CPR and ***renew*** it every few years.

 I carry a basic first aid kit in my car but simply learning to evaluate what I could use as a tool if need be is a big deal.  IN this case your own coat wrapped around him would have been all you could do - altho often someone in that shape may be oddly reluctant to let you help them.  In this particular case the operative thing was YOU NOTICED  *and** you acted.

He's probably either got dementia or Alzheimer's and they are lucky he didn't wander FURTHER to where someone couldn't see him. He likely went to the bathroom and then got 'lost'.  It happens. 

Bless you for caring and for reminding folks FIRST AID SAVES LIVES.

houndlove

 I realized that I have forgotten pretty much every shred of first aid and CPR that I'd learned back in college. So I guess it's time to find some classes, because if he had stopped breathing while I was standing there, I have no idea what I would have done.

Good thing you happened upon him!  I still feel guilty over something that happened years ago.  There is an old woman that lives across from our family's house (she is now about 95).  One day I was outside and saw her sitting in her driveway.  I remember thinking it was odd that she was sitting there, but I was too stupid to really think about it.  Turns out she'd fallen and broken her hip!  Luckily, my neighbor is a nurse and she went over there to borrow something and saw her sitting there.  I still feel bad that I didn't go over and check.

As for the CPR it is totally different now, so what you learned in college likely isn't even relevant anymore.  It has changed in the past 2 years.  You no longer check for a pulse or give any breaths.  It's all chest compressions.  All you have to remember is 100 compressions per minute.  Our trainer said that he no longer teaches anyone to give breaths because if the person's heart is not going to beat, what good are breaths?  Also, the amount of oxygen you exhale into someone isn't pure enough to really help them anyway.  You have 2-5 minutes to get the heart going again so he said to always focus on compressions, don't worry about breathing.  The EMTs will come and pump oxygen.  There was a woman that died in our campus store last year so college employees have been voluntarily taking CPR and defib training.  I did it this summer to get out of work so I'm now certified for adults, kids, and defib (not babies, but he did show us how).  The trainer told us all these horrific stories about people dying of heart attacks and how easily their deaths were preventable.  Every once in a while, I see some stranger and ask myself, "what if you saw him fall down unconscious?" and just keep myself on my toes as far as knowing where the defibs are and what I would do.  Paranoid?  Maybe, but my dad is a smoker, my grandpa has already had 4 heart attacks and has a heart condition, and no one ever thought it would happen to anyone while we were at work, but it did and she died (she actually died immediately, but you still ask yourself whether there was something you should have done...).

Good for you! His wife was probably really thankful that you were walking by.  

Wow!!! Awesome job!! You definitely did a good thing! Good thing you were walking by and were so observant and caring. Hope the poor old dear is alright!

Wow!  It was a good thing you stopped!  Poor thing!  It was good that you had your cell phone.  I'm reading your question, and NO, I don't think of anything like that actually happening.  I don't even take my cell phone w/ me.  I guess maybe I should at least start doing that.  Poor Misty hasn't even gone for a walk in the last two days, we've been getting rain, then it's been so cold, it freezes, and frankly, I'm afraid to walk Misty (since all she does is pull), for fear she'll make me fall!  I don't want to flip out on her, but if that happened, I know I would since, I've been trying so hard to keep her from pulling. lol  Need some good boots too!  Now you made me think!  lol  Can you smell the smoke?

Liesje

As for the CPR it is totally different now, so what you learned in college likely isn't even relevant anymore.  It has changed in the past 2 years.  You no longer check for a pulse or give any breaths.  It's all chest compressions.  All you have to remember is 100 compressions per minute.  Our trainer said that he no longer teaches anyone to give breaths because if the person's heart is not going to beat, what good are breaths?  Also, the amount of oxygen you exhale into someone isn't pure enough to really help them anyway. 

Are you sure about not giving breaths? DH is an EMT and I'll ask him, but I'm pretty sure you still give breaths and I just googled it and it looks like the current protocol is still 2 breaths before starting (which sometimes could be all that's needed) and then 30 compressions/2 breaths and so on. I was CPR certified for many yrs and I know it's changed, but I'd still do what I could using my old skills if I had to. It's a great idea to keep up on that stuff though and it has changed over the years.

As far as helping that man this morning, I think that's awesome!!  My dad went out one morning to get the paper and tripped over the brick steps coming back to the house. He broke his tibia and cut his legs, hands and head up really badly. Someone out on there morning walk saw him lying there and called 911. It made me so sad to think of him lying there hurt and alone and I was extremely grateful that someone happened by.

That was a wonderful story, this is the way it's supposed to be...people helping other people. If I had cockles they'd be well and truly warmed, Cressida!

cakana

Are you sure about not giving breaths? DH is an EMT and I'll ask him, but I'm pretty sure you still give breaths and I just googled it and it looks like the current protocol is still 2 breaths before starting (which sometimes could be all that's needed) and then 30 compressions/2 breaths and so on. I was CPR certified for many yrs and I know it's changed, but I'd still do what I could using my old skills if I had to. It's a great idea to keep up on that stuff though and it has changed over the years.

It's just how we were trained.  Our school hires an EMT who has a side business training CPR and defib.  He said that he has seen people die because the ones doing CPR lost valuable time trying to do breaths.  When you read it on paper or practice on the Annie, it's different, but he says in real life, people get very flustered, sometimes overly concerned with doing it perfectly.  EMTs and firemen could probably do this stuff in their sleep and would be giving breaths, but normal people make too many mistakes and it's better to just focus on compressions in the right place with the right timing.  He cited some study that looked at how much oxygen you and I actually exhale and whether it's enough to even help a person and said the breaths we give aren't that valuable anyway.  Some people can hold their breath underwater for 2 minutes or more and be fine, but if your heart has stopped, it's not going to magically start by breathing.  His arguement was that if someone's heart has stopped, you can give breaths indefinitely and that will never save the person.  You have 2-5 minutes to restart the heart and the average EMT/firetruck response time around here is 7 minutes.  Every time you stop compressions in favor of giving breaths, you are basically wasting time (according to him).  CPR is to develop a slight rhythm of the heart so that when you defib, it "reboots" the heart.  The defibs we have at school/work call for 2 minutes of chest compressions before they analyze and then shock/not shock.  If they analyze and will not shock, they call for another 2 minutes of compressions.  So, they require 2 minutes of non-stop compressions (no stopping to breathe) or they don't work right.

I guess it depends on who trains you and what equipment they are training for.  My DH works for campus security and was trained slightly differently by the same person because the defibs closest to him are a different kind.  When I was trained, he asked everyone what buildings they worked in so that we were all practicing on the defibs we'd most likely have to use.  He said his training takes into consideration what he knows about the local EMTs and fire departments, what he knows their response times to be, and that sort of thing, so it would vary based on locale.

Well, as soon as I can clear up some weirdness with my bank (note to husband: when setting up security questions for bank account, do not use pithy "cute" answers that neither of us will ever remember), I'm going to register for the local Red Cross's next First Aid/CPR/AED class (I work on a college campus and recently all campus buildings were installed with AEDs so I'd like to learn how to use those too), next Thursday. They seem to do almost all their classes during the day on weekdays, so I'm glad I have a flexible job. Though most offices I think will give you a paid day off to do that sort of thing. I just talked to DH and he's going to talk to his manager (because he's in an office where these sorts of things have to be cleared and scheduled well in advance).

I can't imagine not carrying my cellphone everywhere, and that is a habit I've always had. It's my only phone (we don't have land line) so I'm kind of attached to it and it does come in handy in emergencies (this is the second time I've had to call 911 on behalf of someone else--the first was a motorcycle accident I came across a couple years ago in Maryland). 

Cressida, GOOD FOR YOU! You're my hero of the day. Seriously.

The most important thing I learned from psychology - well, from college in general, actually - is that if there's ever a questionable situation where someone might need to do something, you need to be the one to take action. Because if you don't, it's extremely likely that nobody else will, either. The more people around, the less likely it is that a single person will take the initiative to confront the potential issue. Everyone assumes that someone else will do it, so it never gets done. Every year there are terrible stories about people dying while scores of people did nothing because they assumed there wasn't a problem or assumed it wasn't "their place" to do anything about it.

I need to get my CPR certification renewed, too... good reminder...