First Aid: Primary Survey, CPR and Recovery Position.
St Johns Ambulance Videos and Tips. Personal Experience
Dear Reader, I hope you’re okay and that life is calm and comfortable for you and your loved ones.
If you’re new to Carer Mentor, ‘Hi and Welcome!’ I’m Victoria. You can read more about me and the Carer Mentor mission here: Who Started Carer Mentor and Why?’
As you may be aware, my mother was recently admitted to the hospital with COVID and pneumonia. We are still battling symptoms, and I still haven’t had a whole night’s sleep yet.
Today, she will receive a new course of antibiotics as we had a scare overnight with another temperature spike. Given her immunocompromised health status, she cannot easily fight infection. Given the different symptoms, this is probably a new infection on top of COVID and pneumonia.
Depending on how I feel tomorrow, I may start a second course of antibiotics myself, but I don’t want to take a new course if I don’t have to. If I get more sleep, I may be able to fight it off. I prefer to try and boost my immune system with vitamins first instead of defaulting to antibiotics or antivirals. This gives me more options for when I’ve a more serious infection.
Amidst the building house repairs going on outside, monitoring Mum carefully and chasing prescriptions, I wanted to ensure I’ve reminded myself of Emergency First Aid. Here are some helpful refresher videos.
Please note all telephone numbers are for UK residents.
What to do if someone has a seizure: watch the 3 minute video
How to treat a burn: watch the 3 minute video
How to treat a minor wound and prevent infection: watch the 1 minute video
What should you have in your first aid box and what's needed for certain injuries?: watch the 2 minute video
For more information and practical support for different conditions, see the St John Ambulance website: sja.org.uk/get-advice/
Restart a Heart!
October 2024: St John Ambulance is teaming up with Resuscitation Council UK, and other organisations all over the world to raise awareness of cardiac arrest and teach CPR.
In the UK, less than one in 10 people survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Knowing CPR means that one day, you could help save the life of your family, friend, or stranger.
Free CPR demonstrations near you, in the UK
Personal Experience
The mantra from St Johns Ambulance that’s in my head is Dr. ABC:
Primary survey:
Check for Danger
Check for a Response
Open Airway
Check Breathing
Check Circulation
Treat the steps as needed.
Dad had a couple of seizures due to atrial fibrillation and tachycardia. These were caused by his congestive heart failure being destabilised by his bladder cancer in 2019.
Seizures are scary and can make you freeze in the moment. Trying to develop muscle memory, and knowing what to do automatically can save lives. Enabling the heart to pump oxygen around the body can be life-saving.
There was a specific moment in 2019 when my parents, our GP/Primary care physician and I aligned and signed the ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ form. We could treat symptoms to ensure he was comfortable, manage pain but we were not allowed to resuscitate him. Please discuss this with your loved ones, and medical professionals as each country’s forms and procedures and legal obligations are different.
Try to get clear on what you can and cannot do, and what actions to take in an emergency. Knowing in advance will help you feel more in control in the moment.
It is important to be clear about loved one’s wishes, medical obligations, responsibilities and the national laws.
Please ‘❤️’ LIKE the article & consider subscribing! This helps us signpost these free resources for those who need them.
This was published earlier this month, but I'd saved in my inbox so I could give it my full attention. I took CPR training decades ago, but honestly, didn't remember much. The video links included here were/are really helpful for CPR, recovery position (technique which I will use for Mom!) and treating burns and seizures. This kind of first aid really should be taught in schools on a regular basis, but to the best of my knowledge it's not. Thanks for the helpful refresher.
Victoria, Sending you and your mom healing energy! Thank you for these life-saving tips and videos.
I was going to add to make sure that their wishes are known DNR/DNI. It's so important to honor those wishes as hard as that may be.