I'm the one who always stops at wrecks on the highway (and need to get recertified pronto) and have always had good experiences...except one...
In Clarendon (outside Hardtimes Cafe, for localistas), a car ran through an intersection and hit a light pole at about 40mph. I ran through traffic and yanked the door open to find a semi-conscious guy with steering wheel marks in his forehead. I got his name and tried to keep him conscious. It took 4 or 5 shouts to get anyone to call 911.
Once the cops showed up, they grilled me for details and when they discovered that the fellow had a bottle of cologne between his legs (which I assumed had caused him to lose control of the car), they decided that he was trying to kill himself and stopped trying to help him. Seriously. I'm screaming that they couldn't make assumptions like that and they are shuffling me out of the scene, telling me to go home and forget it.
I won't ever forget that feeling of helplessness and the certainty that the guy was dying. I called all the hospitals later that night but couldn't get any information.
That poor fellow was written off because he was young and Hispanic. Seriously, I heard one of the cops something about 'he had a lover's quarrel' as he walked away from a badly injured man.
God. I guess I'm still pretty bitter.
That would be the test--would I give a complete stranger mouth to mouth without any tools?
The American Heart Association now recommends compression-only CPR
[link] That's only for heart attacks, but it's something.
In a complete shift of tone Pink, feeding my girlcrush. Damn, she's hot. Link ganked from smonster on LJ.
Ginger, that's very good to know. Thanks for the link.
I do have CPR training, but it's rusty. That would be the test--would I give a complete stranger mouth to mouth without any tools? I'd do chest compressions and clearing the airway as much as I could remember, but the bit with the spit--I'd need to be in the moment to know how that would come out.
Compressions Only is the hot new thing in CPR.
[link]
Wow. Compression only is quite a shift.
Odd though, I've never read any stories of people suing for ventilation but I HAVE read stories of cracked ribs.
While I would never advocate for someone who didn't feel compelled to, endangering their own lives, the movement to compression only feels like the happy, slappy...hey, no risk here!approach to life saving.
Is it that people are so afraid that they'd do NOTHING if spit were involved? Or is it that people just do the breathing so badly that it doesn't help anyway?
BTW, it probably isn't but the VO artist on that CPR video sounds a lot like Christopher Lee. That would be funny.
Is it that people are so afraid that they'd do NOTHING if spit were involved?
Well, if you only think it works with spit, why try otherwise?
the happy, slappy...hey, no risk here!approach to life saving
I feel okay being judicious about what gets to go into my mouth. I'm not going to pretend I'm some sort of angel. I think any approach to lifesaving that means you do something positive is a good approach to lifesaving, and while I will certainly be judgmental about someone who won't open a more convenient door so someone in distress can sit down I will not be that judgmental about something that mirrors something regarded as so intimate in our society.
Skipping for advice:
I need to cook today. I'm looking for something pie-ish/bake-ish/pastryish, that will make me use potatoes and flour and such. I'd love it if it'll be a little bit sweet, but more important, I need something I can eat as a meal. I just went through recipes for the better part of the last 30 minutes, and found gronk.
It might be a good place to say that I'm vegetarian, so no meat and fish.
Any suggestions, oh ye buffoodstas?
Or a frittata. I made a totally yummy veggie dish the other day with potatoes, greens, garlic, chili pepper, olive oil. It was so simple and so dang good.
