By: Shawn Clubb
As Published in:
South County Journal
Southwest County Journal
Southwest City Journal
South Side Journal
Thirty clicks and then two breaths. Thirty clicks. Two breaths. I did this over and over for two full minutes and my dummy still showed no signs of life.
The clicking sound came from the Little Anne dummy whose chest I was compressing at the headquarters of the American Red Cross - St. Louis Area Chapter in Creve Coeur. My breaths were sent into the mouth of the dummy.
Ryan Day, safety outreach specialist for the chapter, was giving me an abbreviated lesson in adult CPR. The chapter teaches all adult CPR classes with instruction in the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED), which is used to send a shock of current to the chest of someone whose heart is beating irregularly.
Day said studies have shown the chance of survival for a heart attack victim drops by 10 percent for every minute of delay in using an AED.
Before trying the AED, Day showed me the correct way to give CPR. There are three steps: check, call and care.
A rescuer should check the scene to make sure it is safe and then check the victim by tapping him on the chest and trying to rouse him. This is done to make sure the victim is not merely sleeping.
The rescuer should then ask someone to call 911 and then begin administering care in the form of CPR or with an AED.
I knelt on a mat and placed a face shield over the mouth of the dummy. The face shield is a transparent plastic sheet large enough to cover the face of an adult. It has a gauze covered mouth opening through which breaths can be administered while protecting both the rescuer and the victim from the transfer of disease.
The face shield also has a face depicted on it with simple instructions to pinch the nose and push upward on the base of the chin. Rescuers should pinch the nose to keep breaths blown into the mouth from simply going back out through the nose. The rescuer should push up the chin to ensure the victims tongue does not block the airways.
The American Red Cross uses a video with its CPR training so people taking the class can watch and participate at the same time. Day said this keeps people from trying to memorize the steps then do it. It also allows trainers like Day to spend more time helping the students if they are having problems.
Using the video and Day’s instruction, I began administering CPR to the dummy. I walked up, looked around the classroom to make sure it was safe and asked Day to call 911. I then knelt tapped the dummy and asked if it could respond. I then put my ear to its mouth to check for signs of breathing.
I then placed the face shield over the dummy, pushed up its chin, pinched its nose and gave two breaths. Day said the breaths should be like exhaling, but not much stronger.
“You’re not trying to blow up a balloon,” he said.
I then put on e hand in the center of the dummy’s chest, put my other had over it and entwined my fingers, made my arms straight and positioned my shoulders directly over the dummy’s chest to administer 30 chest compressions in about 18 seconds. The compressions should be two inches deep and the dummy clicks every time a deep enough compression is made. The video played a ticking metronome sound to illustrate the cadence of the clicking.
I kept going.
“You’re basically becoming the heart-lung machine,” Day said.
I tried alternating the breaths and compressions for two full minutes. I could feel the strain starting in my arms. Day said some people don’t think they can continue CPR for long, but the adrenaline from an emergency situation can be helpful.
Day also showed me the use of an AED, which has audio prompts to tell a person how to operate it.
“Once you start CPR, you don’t stop,” said Day, at least not until help arrives.