- Time of past OR future Camino
- First one in 2005 from Moissac, France.
Hi - I am putting this up as we have recently had pilgrims suffering heart attacks and you - yes, you!
- could save their life ..
the first thing that will happen to you, and the people around you is almost nothing. People get scared, they don't know what to do, so they tend to do nothing - or even worse, try to get the person onto their feet ...
.. so the first thing to do is to react, get in there - what is the worst you can do? They will die without you so respond, be afraid later ...
First check your own safety - such things as live electricity and the casualty lying in a pool of water - check that it is safe for you.
Next get down to their face, shake them, call to them - see if they are responsive .. check to see if they are breathing, or breathing very badly - gasping is not breathing properly! put your cheek against their mouth, look for chest movement - take no longer than ten seconds.
If they have been eating check that this is a heart attack and not something stuck in their throat (they will go red and be trying to breathe - it really looks different from a heart attack) - you would have seen them go down or people nearby would have .. so check that .. if they are breathing check the airway is clear and put them in the recovery position (google how to do those things).
If not, then ....
Then, well, now is the time to try and save their life. The ideal is repetitive chest pressure (cpr) interleaved with 'rescue breaths' but if not trained in rescue breaths cpr alone is fine.
What you are doing here is making the heart pump so that the brain is oxygenated and when the rescue services arrive there is still a working brain, it isn't damaged - and, with luck, you may restore heart action and they will survive - but essentially it is keeping those systems going until help arrives - it is First Aid.
Do try and conquer your fear - it is better to try and do it wrong than not try at all - as you do the compressions get someone else to call the emergency services - if alone shout for help, then do them for thirty seconds, stop and phone, and then start again - the cpr is more important than the call if it is taking a while .. keep the line open, do some more cpr then talk then more cpr, etc - you must continue doing them until help comes.
I was trained years ago to do it to the song Nellie The Elephant beat running in my head - but now (appropriately enough) you can do it to Staying Alive!!
below is an instructional video - it is short, it is funny, and it is true - so please do watch it.
Afterwards, whether the casualty survives or not, expect to become emotional and even weepy, this is normal and it passes - whatever the result you have done a great thing.
And - St John Ambulance and the Red Cross first aid training courses take just one day and are cheap as chips. They will give you the training and confidence to step in and help where all others stand frozen - do take a course, get your whole family involved - do it .. please ...
Here the video - enjoy!!
and Buen Camino - to us all.
the first thing that will happen to you, and the people around you is almost nothing. People get scared, they don't know what to do, so they tend to do nothing - or even worse, try to get the person onto their feet ...
.. so the first thing to do is to react, get in there - what is the worst you can do? They will die without you so respond, be afraid later ...
First check your own safety - such things as live electricity and the casualty lying in a pool of water - check that it is safe for you.
Next get down to their face, shake them, call to them - see if they are responsive .. check to see if they are breathing, or breathing very badly - gasping is not breathing properly! put your cheek against their mouth, look for chest movement - take no longer than ten seconds.
If they have been eating check that this is a heart attack and not something stuck in their throat (they will go red and be trying to breathe - it really looks different from a heart attack) - you would have seen them go down or people nearby would have .. so check that .. if they are breathing check the airway is clear and put them in the recovery position (google how to do those things).
If not, then ....
Then, well, now is the time to try and save their life. The ideal is repetitive chest pressure (cpr) interleaved with 'rescue breaths' but if not trained in rescue breaths cpr alone is fine.
What you are doing here is making the heart pump so that the brain is oxygenated and when the rescue services arrive there is still a working brain, it isn't damaged - and, with luck, you may restore heart action and they will survive - but essentially it is keeping those systems going until help arrives - it is First Aid.
Do try and conquer your fear - it is better to try and do it wrong than not try at all - as you do the compressions get someone else to call the emergency services - if alone shout for help, then do them for thirty seconds, stop and phone, and then start again - the cpr is more important than the call if it is taking a while .. keep the line open, do some more cpr then talk then more cpr, etc - you must continue doing them until help comes.
I was trained years ago to do it to the song Nellie The Elephant beat running in my head - but now (appropriately enough) you can do it to Staying Alive!!
below is an instructional video - it is short, it is funny, and it is true - so please do watch it.
Afterwards, whether the casualty survives or not, expect to become emotional and even weepy, this is normal and it passes - whatever the result you have done a great thing.
And - St John Ambulance and the Red Cross first aid training courses take just one day and are cheap as chips. They will give you the training and confidence to step in and help where all others stand frozen - do take a course, get your whole family involved - do it .. please ...
Here the video - enjoy!!
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