Are You Ready For An Emergency?

Pumping adrenaline, sweat begins to form, you can hear your heart pumping in your ears, and all you can think about is helping the person in need.

This is an emergency. Being a first responder is a lot of responsibility, and most people are not up to the challenge. Many people would like to help others in need, but are unsure of how to do so. Nerves, fear, or just generally being unprepared can cause people to flee an emergency rather than help. We are here to help you feel more prepared! Although you are not legally obliged to help in an emergency, wouldn’t you want help if you were in that situation?

Here are 3 things you cannot forget in an emergency:

1. Check the scene for safety

The only thing worse than one victim is two. If you are rushing into an emergency recklessly, you could miss signs that it is still dangerous and hurt yourself. Make sure that you are checking for smoke, possibility of electrocution, environmental factors like insects or animals, even other people who could cause you harm. Running heroically into a devastating scene is only for the movies. Protect yourself first.

 

2. Call 911

Help will never come if you don’t call for it. The victim may need a defibrillator, major first aid, or even blood transfusions. None of that will arrive if the paramedics don’t come. If you have a cell phone you can call on your cell phone as you administer care, and if you don’t have a cell phone you need to go and find a phone to call before you help the victim.

3. You don’t legally have to help, but when you start you can’t stop

It is true that there is no legal obligation to help someone in danger. But, there is a legal obligation to see the help through if you begin. If you start care of a victim, you can’t abandon them. The Good Samaritan law will protect you as long as act within your scope of knowledge, but that law goes out the door if you do as well. This shouldn’t discourage you from helping, but know that if you are in it, you are seeing it through until the end!

If you are ready and good to go for an emergency, great. But everyone can use a tune up of their skills as well as learning new ways to help. Visit our website at www.a-b-cpr.com to sign up for a class to learn more.