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...

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.

• Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
• Long-term Carbon Monoxide Exposure
• Carbon Monoxide Detectors

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.

• Tips for Calling 911
• Controlling Bleeding

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.

• Cold, Flu or H1N1?

My daughter twisted her ankle at dance. She's the toughest kid we have and from the crying, Mom could tell she was hurting pretty bad.

One of the dance instructors iced the ankle. Indeed, that's the way to handle a twisted ankle. The cold helps reduce the swelling, especially when combined with elevation and compression.

The ice pack used was one of those reusable blue things for keeping soda cold in the cooler. You freeze it and toss it in the ice chest on your way out the door.

My daughter's instructor wrapped the blue thing in a paper towel and put it on her ankle. There's not a lot of material in a paper towel, so that's not really any different than putting the ice directly on the skin.

When my wife looked underneath the "ice" she found a blister about the size of a quarter.

It has taken my daughter longer to recover from the frostbite than from the twisted ankle -- talk about a teaching moment.

My daughter assures me she'll never put ice -- or allow anyone else to put ice -- directly on the skin again.

• Frostbite from Icing an Injury

Zoll -- maker of defibrillators, among other things -- has released an iPhone app to teach folks how to do CPR.

Learning CPR from your iPhone? Hmmmm. I don't know if I buy that.

Since I don't have an iPhone, I can't buy it anyway. But some of you can. If you do, I want to hear about it.

Email me. Write a little review. Add to the comments at the bottom of this post. Put it on the first aid forum. I want to know what you think about learning CPR from an iPhone. Is it enough to teach all by itself, or do you still need a person to help you learn?

Go shopping at the app store and let me know.

It's not just me -- it takes longer to be seen in the ER.

New research showed how the wait times for being seen in the emergency department have increased since 1997. We've been blaming the number of uninsured patients going to the ER because they don't have any other option, but the waits are affecting all types of insured patients (those with and those without).

One of the interesting factors the researchers blamed for increasing wait times was simply called "physician bias." It's a reminder that docs are people, too and they have the same biases we all have.

Have you felt the bias of a physician? Do you think you've been discriminated against in the ER? Read as others share their stories of healthcare discrimination and share your own.

Thanks to H1N1 coughing is nearly a felony -- especially if you don't cover your mouth.

Luckily, not every cough is a sign of the swine flu. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do for a cough. It's probably one of the most complicated responses in the human body.

The next time you have a cough that doesn't seem to go away, try a home remedy. Honey has had some luck as a cough suppresant. Some medicines help a little.

If the cough is from an allergic reaction, treating the allergy might help.

Since almost everything you try has such a small chance of working, be sure to carry tissues with you when you have a cough. Always cover your cough and toss the tissue in the trash. If you don't have tissue, cough or sneeze into your elbow rather than your hand -- you're less likely to pass your germs on to others that way.

• Cough Medicines
• Home Remedies for Cough

Time to change the clocks back.

This Sunday at two o'clock in the morning is when Daylight Saving Time goes away and standard time comes back.

Woo-hoo! Bring on the extra hour of sleep!

Clocks aren't the only thing that should change. The US Fire Administration wants to remind you to change the batteries in your smoke alarm when you change the time.

Don't have a smoke alarm? It's time to get one!

According to the USFA, almost two thirds of deadly home fires from 2003-2006 didn't have working smoke alarms. Either the homes didn't have smoke alarms at all, or the smoke alarms didn't make any noise.

The trick to making your smoke alarm work: good batteries.

You should change your batteries at least once a year, twice a year is better. That's why the USFA recommends changing batteries when the time changes -- it's a great way to remember.

You should also change the batteries if your smoke alarm starts to chirp for no reason.

Have fun sleeping in Sunday morning, and don't forget to be safe.

• Smoke Alarms
• When Your Smoke Alarm Chirps
• Smoke Alarms that Sound Like Mom

Flu season is going to be rough this year.

I watch Google.org's Flu Trends website rather than the CDC only because it tends to be a bit ahead of the curve reporting trends in flu cases (and it has an easy to use interface).

Wow. There's an early spike this year.

I don't know how much the media hype of H1N1 is affecting Google's numbers, but I'm still a little concerned about the impact this will have on emergency services as we get deeper into the traditional flu season.

Apparently, the White House is concerned, too. President Obama declared an emergency, which should give hospitals additional options for treating tons of flu cases.

The flu season is the busy time for emergency departments and ambulances around the country. The flu leads to shortness of breath and coughing. It makes folks tired, dizzy and confused. It gives you body aches and fever.

It sends you to the ER.

Now, thanks to H1N1, we're dealing with the flu at numbers near a typical peak season before the season should have even started.

The CDC has these tips to protect yourself, which look strangely similar to the things Mom always told you:

• Get vaccinated.
• Cover your cough with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water.
• Keep your hands out of your face -- touching your eyes, nose and mouth spreads germs.
• Stay home if you're sick.