Wednesday December 9, 2009
This is more of a cautionary tale about getting scammed than first aid, but since first aid is the ruse I think it belongs here.
According to an article in the Ottawa Citizen, a company in Ottawa, Canada is selling first aid and CPR training, but buyer beware: many people are not getting the promised classes.
The company, Canadian Council for Family Safety, claims in the article to be non-profit and claims to train more than 25,000 people per year. The usual shtick sounds like a salesperson appears on your doorstep and offers to train you in lifesaving skills for a fee paid up front. You know, pay now and get training later.
Of course, they're planning on you not getting around to it before your "membership" in the program expires. Even if you do try to get into a class, according to the article you're likely to be told the classes are full.
The owner, Richard Tyo, claims his trainers are certified by St. John's Ambulance, the Canadian Red Cross or the Heart and Stroke Foundation. In the article Tyo is said to be using paramedics as instructors as well, "because of their on-the-job experience."
Being a paramedic on an ambulance does not qualify one to teach layperson first aid. The two are not the same.
This illustrates a problem in the largely unregulated field of first aid and CPR. There isn't anyone out there stopping any Jane, Dick or Harry from printing up their own cards and holding a class. There are reputable programs, but even those are self-regulated.
Read more...
Sunday December 6, 2009
Carbon monoxide poisoning is the number one type of poisoning in the US, and the number of carbon monoxide poisoning incidents goes way up in the winter.
Are you doing everything you can to keep your family safe?
Carbon monoxide is a byproduct of burning and any non-electric heat source in your home can be a source. Exposure to high levels of carbon monoxide can lead to symptoms resembling a viral infection: nausea and vomiting, headaches, dizziness, fatigue and eventually, confusion, coma and death.
Carbon monoxide poisoning isn't an all or nothing proposition. Some folks can be affected by lower levels of carbon monoxide exposure than others, so symptoms will often come on gradually and affect one person at a time -- much like an infection would move through the family.
There's some evidence that long-term exposure to carbon monoxide may result in some sort of physical damage, but exactly what is unknown. Indeed, long-term exposure victims may or may not exhibit any of the common signs of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Safety comes from taking two precautions. One: make sure your furnace, fireplace and/or wood stove is properly vented and in good working order. Two: install a carbon monoxide detector. With a little common sense and a couple of precautions, your family can be safe from carbon monoxide poisoing.
Wednesday November 25, 2009
Why did Miley's bus driver run off the road?
The blogosphere is buzzing about Miley Cyrus's bus driver suffering cardiac arrest after the tour bus he was driving ran off the road. There is more than a little speculation about whether cardiac arrest was a result of the crash or the cause of it. TMZ and Perez Hilton among others seem to question which came first -- implying, of course, that some type of heart problem could've been the cause.
One of the bits that has the bloggers all a-twitter is the 911 recording in which the caller uses the term cardiac arrest. Simply put, that just means the poor driver is dying. When we die, it always ends in cardiac arrest.
I get the impression the caller understands this fact; it's the bloggers who don't seem to get it. Indeed, the caller sounds like he's had a little first aid training at least. He uses terms like cardiac arrest and laceration.
He calls twice. The first time he says "Yes, but he's losing color" when the 911 operator asks if the driver is conscious and breathing. When he calls back, he tells 911 the driver is "going into cardiac arrest." When the operator asks if the driver is moving, the caller says "Yes, but he's turning purple. He's trying to breath but he's not getting any oxygen" (sounds a lot like agonal respirations).
The caller then says the driver has a big laceration on his neck and is losing a lot of blood.
All the bloggers that are jumping on the caller's use of the term cardiac arrest are missing all the details recorded in these calls. If the cause of the crash really was the driver going into cardiac arrest while behind the wheel, he wouldn't be conscious after the accident.
The caller's descriptions tie perfectly together. Imagine a person after an accident, bleeding profusely. First, color would drain away followed by the victim losing consciousness. As the bleeding continues and the victim falls deeper into unconsciousness, he would develop agonal breathing and eventually stop altogether.
I don't mean to be quite so graphic, but there are so many assumptions being made online right now that really shouldn't be. Could his heart have caused him to lose consciousness while driving? Maybe. Could he have fallen asleep? Maybe. Could he be under the influence of a substance that caused him to lose control of the vehicle? Maybe. Or, just maybe, he had absolutely nothing to do with the bus running off the road -- it could have been a mechanical failure just as easily as driver error.
This man was behind the wheel of a bus that ran off the road. He didn't survive the accident. That, folks, is all we know.
Wednesday November 18, 2009
Have a runny nose? How about a cough? Are you concerned you might have swine flu?
A dry cough indicates it might be the seasonal flu, but a dry cough that develops into a wet cough could mean swine flu. A sore throat is typical of a cold and not the seasonal flu, but the swine flu often comes with a severe sore throat.
It sounds complicated, doesn't it?
Kristina Duda, About.com's Guide to Cold & Flu, has created a wonderful table to help you figure out whether you're suffering from the cold, the seasonal flu or the dreaded H1N1.
