n THE CARILLON STEINBACH, MAN. C4
THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2024
n www.thecarillon.com
WES KEATING THE CARILLON
A special mannequin has been developed to give a more realistic feel for students learning to administer CPR.
Rural communities focus of St John first aid course
by WES KEATING S t John Ambulance instructors are currently presenting a series of one-day first aid courses de- signed especially for Manitoba farm- ers and others who live and work in rural communities. The course, supported by Keystone Agriculture Producers and Manitoba Canola Growers, gives each class of 18 par- ticipants the skills needed to deal with life-threatening emergencies and more common non-emergency farm-related injuries. Before beginning instruction at the course at the Mennonite Heri- tage Village Museum, in Steinbach, Colleen Robinson and the group dis- cussed how to best deal with prob- lems that arise when calling 911 from rural areas, where the service is often patchy at best and non-ex- istent in other areas. Often dispatch- ers have no end of difficulty in deal- ing with calls from rural residents and, a person under the stress of an emergency, cannot always give clear directions to the operator, who may be located in an urban centre. The precise location may not al- ways be clear, Robinson was told, and dispatchers may have difficulty in knowing from what location emer- gency services must be dispatched. Robinson suggested rural residents would be wise to have the numbers of the local fire department and am- bulance services readily available in the event of an emergency. A handy wallet-sized first aid pack- age, provided by Manitoba Canola Growers, contains a card on which to record numbers for police, am- bulance, fire, local hospital and poi- son control centre. The little pack- age, measures less than four inches square and also contains a dozen assorted bandages, gauze pads, two alcohol wipes, two hand wipes, an- tiseptic towelettes and a cool blaze burn relief packet. In an emergency, it would be beneficial to call the lo- cal numbers as well as reaching out to 911, Robinson said. Local emergency services are most familiar with the areas they serve and that could speed up the arrival of help. In the meantime, there are several steps that can be taken by someone arriving on the scene of a farm accident or any other medical emergency. Many of those would be dealt with during the day, Robinson added. “Pre-planning for an emergency is very important. Know what to do when something happens. Know where your co-workers are likely to be and how long they expect to be at that location, be it in a machine shed or out on the land.” Robinson took the group through a step-by-step approach to assisting someone who has suffered a heart attack or an on-the-job injury. Always check for hazards when approaching a casualty, she said. There may be something that caused
WES KEATING THE CARILLON Robinson uses a mannequin to show how to check that a casualty’s breathing before starting emergency first aid treatment like CPR.
WES KEATING THE CARILLON St John Ambulance first aid instructor Colleen Robinson demonstrates CPR for 18 people taking a course in Steinbach that has been designed to help rural residents deal with emergencies.
to safely turn the victim on his or her side, when necessary, being careful to support the head at all times, in case there was a neck injury. Robinson then demonstrated CPR, using the mannequin to show how hands should be positioned on a person’s chest before beginning a series of compressions to get breath- ing started again. When dealing with a possible heart attack or a person who is in shock for any number of reasons, it is import- ant to keep the heart beating. CPR is a way to do that. CPR is a combination of chest compressions, just over two inches deep, which are delivered rapidly, at the rate of 100 to 120 compressions a minute. Robinson said. Somebody suffering a heart attack needs an ambulance to be taken to the hospital and CPR at the site is done to keep the heart going until further help arrives. “Rapid compressions, two min- utes at a time, are gruelling, but the adrenalin you will have while help- ing the victim will keep you going.” An automated external defibrilla- tor (AED) is a valuable device which increases a person’s chance of sur- vival from heart failure by 70 to 80 percent. Ambulances have them, Robinson said, but recommended rural residents have one on hand as well, even though they are expen- sive.
an accident, like a ladder in the case of a person being injured in a fall. If the person is conscious, ask for con- sent to help them. Then call 911 and get started with on-site treatment as soon as possible. Do a rapid body survey to check if the victim is going into shock. Shock is caused by a circulation problem when tissues do not get enough oxy- genated blood, Robinson explained. “Shock causes a chalky appear- ance to the skin and can happen with any illness or injury. Shock is progressive and always needs first aid.” Shock will cool sweat glands and the heart rate increases as the body attempts to make sure blood gets to vital organs. “In that little first aid package there is something that looks like a piece of tinfoil, but is actually a blan- ket which works well for keeping a person warm until professional help arrives. Using a mannequin, provided for each of the students, Robinson demonstrated how to check the breathing of a person lying on their back. In the event the person is face- down, use the back of your hand to check breathing before moving them. If there is no breath for six or seven seconds, start cardiopulmo- nary resuscitation (CPR). Robinson, with volunteers from the group to help, demonstrated how
WES KEATING THE CARILLON Manitoba Canola Growers’ emergency pocket first aid wallet certainly lives up to the saying “good things come in small packages”.
shock button or to continue CPR. “Do not touch the patient after pushing the orange button when the voice indicates a shock is advised. Then its hands off and listening to directions from the device and re- suming CPR if told to do so.” A series of videos and the hands- on CPR and AED use, as well as the treatment of sprains, fractures, bro- ken bones, and wound care were all part of the full day St John Ambu- lance course. The afternoon session included child CPR, touched on silo gas and safety measures where it could be in a bin, and treatment of burns from chemicals farmers work with. At the end of the day, course par- ticipants were certified as “First Aid- er 1” under the Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health legislation, with certification valid for three years.
An AED is a computerized device for analyzing heart rhythm of a casu- alty and providing an electric shock to disrupt an erratic rhythm and re- store a normal one. The AED is able to identify if the heart rhythm fits one of two shock- able rhythms and will ignore other rhythms, and a voice prompt will advise to perform CPR. Kneeling in a circle on the floor of the Mennonite Heritage Muse- um auditorium, the 18 course par- ticipants followed the instructions from Robinson for performing CPR on their mannequins and the three step-process for using the AED. Step One is to open the AED and turn on the device. Step Two is to fol- low the voice prompts to apply the pads as instructed in the accompa- nying illustration. Step Three is wait- ing for the AED to analyze once the pads are in place and voice prompts indicate whether to press the orange
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