PROVIDING EMERGENCY CARE
You can improve someone else’s chances of surviving if you are prepared to provide emergency help. A course in first aid offered by the American Red Cross and on many college campuses can teach you to respond appropriately when someone needs help. Emergency rescue techniques can save the lives of people who have stopped breathing, who are choking, or whose hearts have stopped beating. Pulmonary resuscitation (also known as rescue breathing, artificial respiration, or mouth-to-mouth resuscitation) is used when a person is not breathing (refer back to Figure A.1). Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is used when a pulse can’t be found. Training is required before a person can perform CPR. Significant changes were made to the guidelines for lay rescue CPR in 2005. Courses are offered by the American Red Cross and the American Heart Association.
When You Have to Provide Emergency Care Remain calm and act sensibly. The basic pattern for providing emergency care is check-call-care:
PROVIDING EMERGENCY CARE Photo Gallery
1. Check the situation. Make sure the scene is safe for both you and the injured person. Don’t put yourself in danger; if you get hurt, too, you will be of little help to the injured person.
2. Check the victim. Conduct a quick head-to-toe examination. Assess the victim’s signs and symptoms, such as level of responsiveness, pulse, and breathing rate. Look for bleeding and any indications of broken bones or paralysis.
3. Call for help. Call 9-1-1 or a local emergency number. Identify yourself and give as much information as you can about the condition of the victim and what happened.
4. Care for the victim. If the situation requires immediate action (no pulse, shock, etc.), provide first aid if you are trained to do so (refer back to Figure A.1).
