What Do We Do? Chris Just Stopped Breathing!

Fast action is critical when someone stops breathing. Minutes after someone stops breathing they can suffer brain damage or die. If someone stops breathing at your location do you know who to contact? Can you make the call quickly for help? Make sure the help comes to the victim. Moving a victim can cause more injuries if you are not properly trained on how to move someone.  So remember never move the victim.

When a guests, patient or fellow team member stops breathing we want to react quickly. These situations can be stressful but we want you to be prepared on what can happen while you are at work. Here are some steps to help you in case someone stops breathing while at work. Here are some helpful steps for you in case someone at your location stops breathing.

• You want to make sure that it is safe to approach the victim.
• Knell beside the person, tap him/her and shout “Are you Okay?”
• Shake the person gently to determine consciousness
• Check to see if there is possibility of neck or back injury
• Call for help or have someone in the area call for medical aid and to bring a pocket mouth-to-mouth resuscitation device if there is one available in your first aid kit.
• After calling to the victim and shaking the victim and they still do not respond. You want to check for breathing by:
  • Looking to see if his/her chest is rising and falling without assistance
  • Putting your ear to the person’s mouth and nose to listen and feel for breathing.

If the victim is not breathing and there is no one trained in CPR around. You should:

• Lay the victim on his/her back.
• Loosen the clothing around the victim’s neck.
• Check that nothing is blocking the mouth or throat.
• Tilt the victim’s mouth open with your thumb.
• Pinch the victim’s nose and cover his/her mouth with yours. Try to make a leak proof seal.
• Use a disposable pocket mouth-to-mouth resuscitation device, if available.
• Blow into the victim’s mouth once every 5 seconds (every 3 second for a child.)
• Repeat until you see the victim’s chest rise and fall, and see or feel breathing form his/her mouth.
• Remover your mouth and let the victim exhale.
• Blow into the victim’s mouth several more times until he/she is able to breathe unaided.

You never know when a situation like this might happen and Minuteman Parking Company wants you to be prepared. If you have taken a CPR class please inform your manager that you can assist in an emergency situation if one arises. If you have not been trained in CPR the Red Cross and other similar agencies regularly offer CPR course. But remember your safety comes first. So make sure that you are protected before you enter any emergency situation.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 2:25 pm and is filed under Safety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.