CPR (not for the weak stomached)

[ffighterstu]

Well, I had my CPR certification renewed tonight. It was done by the Phoenix Fire Department at an adult community center. We were about 3 hours into the class when a worker at the center asked the instructor to come check the bathroom. About 1 minute later, the instructor comes back and grabs the AED from the room and says "If you would like to see this thing in action, follow me."

We ran down the hall and in the men's restroom was a 40 year old man unconcious and not breathing. We performed CPR for a minute and then hooked up the AED. It analyzed the electrical current of the man's heart and recommended a shock. We proceeded to shock him 9 times in 3 shock intervals while doing CPR between. Each shock would expell fluid and blood from the man's stomach (he had some kind of GI bleed). A friend of the man was also there who informed us that he was just released from prison and had been drinking and doing drugs that day.

By the time the ambulance got here, the heart had no electrical activity and he was dead. While this was not the first person that I've seen die, it was pretty graphic.

I only wanted to share this because I believe CPR is a very valuable skill to know. If somebody is performing CPR on a person, it increases their chance of survival exponentially if done within the first 5 minutes. If you are interrested in taking a CPR class, please call your local Fire Department or Red Cross.

I'm sorry if this disturbed anyone and if the mods think it is too graphic, please feel free to remove it.

[sophie42204]

Kind of ironic that you were holding a CPR class while this happened. It's too bad he died, but I'm sure you guys did what you could. Of course, he probably shouldn't have been drinking and doing drugs as that it what obviously killed him. I have had CPR certification, but I do need to renew it. Maybe now is a good time. Thanks for the reminder.