CPRMom

Guidelines 2010 will be released in just a few weeks! What are Guidelines 2010? They are changes in how we will perform and teach CPR. Twice a year the International Liason Committee on Resuscitation or ILCOR meets regularly to review scientific studies done on CPR. When there is enough information that suggest that changes should be made they release new guidelines on how we should perform CPR. October 18th is the date the new Guidelines will be released this year. What does this mean if you just took a CPR class? You are still certified in CPR If you have recently taken a class or are planning on taking one before October 18th. Despite releasing the new guidelines on that day, CPR instructors will not have the new training materials until next winter or spring at the earliest. However most of us will be incorporating the new guidelines into our classes until the training materials are available. How do you find out what the changes will be? You can visit this b...

I'll admit it. I'm a geek. Seriously. I belong to several multiple online groups, where I learn and interact with some great people on topics from work-life balance, work-home balance, business network and yes... CPR and First Aid. Indeed, I have online conversations with people about how we teach CPR. Sounds geeky, but I do learn a lot from these groups! There has been a discussion topic that we keep coming back to; online training. Are DVD's and websites replacing the instructor as the best way to learn CPR? Recently a member of one group posted a link to an article in Resuscitation Volume 81, Issue 8, August 2010, Pages 1004-1009 titled Comparison of instructor-led automated external defibrillation training and three alternative DVD-based training methods . On the edge of your seat wondering the final result of the comparison? Their initial premise was: Self-directed BLS-training, using a personal training manikin with video has been shown to be as ef...

Last spring I wrote a post Do you work out with ID? based on an accident that occurred earlier that month. A bicyclist was found unresponsive on the side of the road. CPR was successfully performed, but he remained unresponsive at the hospital. He had no ID on him and fortunately an article in the paper led to someone identifying him before he tragically passed away. This local story started me on a quest that I had been meaning to do for a while. I will state unequivocally that I am not an athlete. But I walk around town quite a bit - usually pushing at least one child in a stroller. I never take my wallet with me, usually just my cell phone, house keys, water, sippy cup(s) (that's for the kids) and a small diaper bag. That's enough stuff to be pushing around town without adding my wallet or purse. I never carry ID. And in a town with no sidewalks and no level shoulder on most roads that means cars have to move around me or I have to jump in a ditch with a stroller...

I am always amazed at science and how technology improves how we live and react to things around us. Meteorology is one of them. 100 years ago our ancestors knew a storm was coming when the weather began to turn. Today we know the forecast 10 days ahead of time. Hurricane Season is typically considered early June to late November, with a peak in the Atlantic between August and October. Hurricane Earl is working its way towards the Eastern coastline. Here in NH it looks like we’ll just get the outer fringes of the storm. Despite really good science and technology, it is still a guess and the prediction of the storm’s path is just that, a prediction. Which is a fancier word than educated guess. But what it does give us is time to adequately prepare for the storm. Advanced warnings mean that we can shop, stock up and avoid last minute craziness at the market or home improvement store. It is recommended that you have a 3 day store of supplies on hand when preparing for a hurr...