Wednesday, June 30, 1999
Saving someone you love
Instructor says CPR is most often performed on family or friends
BY SUE MacDONALD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It can happen so quickly, so unexpectedly.
Someone next to you quits breathing, grasps his or her chest and slumps to the floor.
A child in a swimming pool goes under and doesn't come up.
Someone with asthma or a breathing problem begins gasping for air or turning blue, unable to take air into the lungs.
Most people who sign up for Jane Wiehe's first aid and CPR courses at the American Red Cross presume that when any of those emergencies happen, someone else will know how to keep a person's heart beating, lungs working or treat a drowning victim until paramedics arrive.
“Most of the time, the person you may have to save will be a friend or family member,” notes Ms. Wiehe, first aid and CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) coordinator for the American Red Cross. “Usually there is someone in just about every class who will say the reason they came was because something happened at home or something happened to them.”
Learning basic life-saving techniques, including the Heimlich Maneuver, cardiopulmonary resuscitation for someone whose heart has stopped and rescue breathing can mean the difference between life and death, Ms. Wiehe notes.
“It's important to know what to do because those first few minutes are so critical,” she says. “Even though we have great response time for our emergency medical services (EMS) and paramedics, they can't be there that fast. Those first few minutes while you're waiting for EMS to come can make a difference.”
Even though saving someone's life is serious business, Ms. Wiehe says she tries to keep first aid and CPR classes easy-going.
“A lot of people think it's going to be very intense and kind of scary, but we try to make it as light as we can even though these are techniques people will use in a life-threatening emergency,” she says. “People appreciate that lightness. We want people to walk away feeling positive that this is something they have learned and can use so they will remember what to do.”
For information about first aid, rescue breathing and CPR classes, call American Red Cross at 792-4000. For information about the Heimlich Maneuver, call the Heimlich Institute, 559-2391.
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