Another Successful Hands Only CPR Service Learning

Tifani Chang

The event which I participated was the “Edmonds Save-A-Life” on April 13, 2017 for 2 hours. The event director is Chuck Morrison from The American Red Cross Serving Snohomish County and his phone number is (425)740-2323. He can also be reached at chuck.morrison@redcross.org

The Red Cross of America sponsored the event and the goals of the event is to teach the public of hands only compression to save lives. My duties at this event included making of signs and guide cars as they pull into the school parking lot and directing the traffic on school campus to the Woodway Building where the event took place. After I volunteered for 2 hours I attended the event as an attendee to learn how to perform hands only CPR.

Attending this event was very fulfilling because of my continuous gain of knowledge in science and most importantly in biology. I have attended mouth to mouth CPR and hands only CPR in the past, but that was before I returned to school. Listening to the organizers at the even talk about the location, structure and function of the human body and why we do these compression trainings all make sense now. It is crucial to know the anatomy of the human body to be able to perform compressions without hurting the person and even more important to have the knowledge to perform. I learned that it is very common to break ribs and the xiphoid process of the sternum. The brain can sustain irreversible damage within 3 minutes without oxygen. That’s just enough time to call 9-1-1 and give them your address. I believe learning CPR is a part of my duty as a citizen and someone who is pursuing a career in the healthcare field. There was a few attendees who has had to give CPR in the past, some to a stranger and a few to their loved ones. As I listened to them, I imagined all the times we are alone or far away from home, we depend on strangers to know how to perform CPR in case if anything shall happen. Human biology is interdisciplinary because it is a very wide field of study as all the basic understandings of other fields are necessary, such as chemistry or even climatology to understand the evolution process. As I continue my education in the healthcare field, things are coming together and completing the circle. Attending the event felt very rewarding to my soul and the community that Red Cross has brought together is truly compassionate, from grandparents to children in grade school who all want to serve their community.

Questions that were raised during my service learning activity:

1.      What is the survival rate when compression CPR is done correctly?

2.      Are there any other common injuries sustained during compression CPR besides broken ribs and xiphoid process?

3.      Is mouth to mouth CPR performed anymore? Or has the protocol completely moved to compressions only?

4.      What are the most common incidents that require CPR?