21 Ways to Save a Life
#1
01-28-2012, 07:09 AM
21 Ways to Save a Life
Hi Member's, Below infor is good for everyone to know or refresh yourself.....Yes `YOU could save someone's life & it could be someone you love 4-Sure...On the MCF we share cause we care about our member's 
Emergency Handbook: 21 Ways to Save a Life (yours, too!)
This special quiz delivers the tools you need to cope with some of life's scariest situations.
Marisa Cohen, SELF magazine
It's the stuff movies are made of: Your car hits a slick spot on a bridge and plummets over the side into the churning water below. But this is real life—this is you, not a stunt double—and there's no crane to pluck you out of the river when the director yells, "Cut!" Now what? We've got your back. This special quiz delivers the tools you need to cope with some of life's scariest situations. Memorize the answers and stay safe out there!
You're at a cocktail party, and your friend who has just broken up with her boyfriend gets so hammered that she starts staggering and doubles over, vomiting. You…
A Put her to bed to let her sleep it off and get back to the party.
B Get her some coffee and walk outside for some fresh air.
C Have her lie down on her side and keep an eye on her.
Answer: C "If she's drunk to the point of vomiting, she's in danger of falling and hurting herself," says Brian Keaton, M.D., an emergency physician at Summa Health System in Akron, Ohio. Lie her down on her side to help prevent choking if she upchucks again, and stay with her to make sure she doesn't roll onto her back. If she can't stop throwing up, or if she's unconscious, seizing or breathing erratically, she may have alcohol poisoning. Dial 911, stat: Nearly 80,000 deaths each year in the United States are attributable to excessive alcohol use. "It's better to be embarrassed about overreacting than to do nothing and have a tragedy," Dr. Keaton stresses.
Your car skids out on a bridge, crashes through the railing and hits the water below. You…
A Kick open your window with your foot and swim through to safety.
B Open the door and swim to safety.
C Wait until the car is almost submerged, open the door and swim to safety.
Answer: B As the car sinks, it will be harder to open the door, so get out fast, says John Nielsen, an Orlando, Florida, automotive expert and director of AAA Approved Auto Repair Network. Get your bearings, undo your seat belt and open the door; if you can't, open the window. No electricity? Break the side window with a LifeHammer, a device with steel spikes, or a sharp, hard item like a pocketknife. Swim to shore and call 911.
You're biking with a friend miles from home when she hits a bump in the road and goes flying over the handlebars. When you rush over to her, her leg looks broken and she's in terrible pain. You…
A Help her sit up and move her leg into a less painful position, then call 911.
B Flag down a passing car, lift her into the backseat and get her to the hospital pronto.
C Call 911, then stay put until help arrives.
Answer: C Unless your friend is in peril—say, she's in a road with cars whizzing by—don't move her: It can worsen the break and exacerbate any internal injuries. "Try to keep her body in the same position she landed in," says Colleen Norton, Ph.D., associate professor at Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies in Washington, D.C. Call 911 and comfort her until help arrives. If she did land in traffic, flag down someone to help move her to safety. Before you do, stabilize the limb by loosely tying it with strips of your T-shirt to something stiff, such as a small branch, to minimize pain.
Your neighbor is trimming hedges and cuts a huge gash in her hand. You…
A Stick her hand under cool, running water.
B Create a tourniquet with a pencil and a T-shirt.
C Have her sit down and raise her hand over her head while you press against the wound with a towel.
Answers: A, C Forget about those tourniquet skills you learned in health class—you should use them only when the victim might bleed to death, as after an amputation. First run the laceration under clean water to wash out any foreign matter, then grab a clean T-shirt or towel and press it on the wound, keeping the area raised higher than the heart. Press until the bleeding stops; if it doesn't or the cut is deep, call 911. While you're waiting for help to arrive, have your neighbor lie down, raise her feet on a pillow and cover her with a blanket to prevent shock; continue applying pressure to the wound and keep it above the heart.
You're having sushi with a friend when she starts choking. You…
A Slap her hard on the back.
B Give her a glass of water.
C Call out for someone to dial 911 as you do the Heimlich maneuver.
Answers: A, C Surprise! The American Red Cross now advises using back slaps to save a choking victim. First, make sure she's choking: Can she breathe, speak or cough? If not, call 911, then deliver five blows with the heel of your hand in the center of her mid-to-upper back, and then do the Heimlich: Stand behind her as she leans forward, make a fist with one hand, cup it with the other, place it above the navel and below the breastbone and thrust upward and inward five times. Alternate five back slaps and five abdominal thrusts until the food pops out.
Your boyfriend is cooking linguine when the pot tips over and scalds his arm. You…
A Hold a plastic bag full of ice cubes on the burn.
B Rub butter on the burn to promote healing.
C Cover his arm with a clean towel doused in cool water.
Answer: C Putting ice on a burn can cause frostbite, says Dr. Lucenti, and butter traps heat in the skin, preventing proper healing. Instead, because fabric retains heat, take off any clothing that was soaked with the boiling water (unless it's stuck to his skin), then hold his arm under cool running water, or use a cloth soaked in cool—not freezing cold—water. If the burn is small and there's no blistering or oozing, dab on some antibiotic cream. But if his skin is blistering, peeling or swelling, or if the burn is larger than the palm of your hand, cover it with a clean cloth and head for the ER. This advice also holds true for burns from a flame or hot oil.
Your nephew trips while running down the hallway with a toothbrush in his mouth. The toothbrush gets lodged in the back of his throat. You dial 911, then…
A Leave it in, keep him standing and monitor his airway.
B Leave it in and have him lie down until help arrives.
C Gently pull out the toothbrush and give him water to drink to flush out his throat.
Answer: A The child might try to pull out the toothbrush, but tell him not to, says Martin Lucenti, M.D., an emergency room physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. If he succeeds, it could cause internal bleeding in the throat, which can block the airway. "If his breathing is irregular or if he can't talk, there may be blood in the airway," Dr. Keaton says. Keep him standing and leaning forward so he won't swallow more blood. If the toothbrush is still in his throat and he's choking on it or can't breathe, gently pull it out. If he can breathe, don't touch it—it could be acting as a dam to control the bleeding. In fact, leave in any object (a knife, scissors) that has caused a penetrating wound until you can get to the ER.
You doze off in the middle of a book and wake to smoke: The candles you lit earlier have set your curtains on fire. You…
A Race for a pot of water to put out the fire.
B Grab your wallet and laptop and dash for the door.
C Leave your bedroom, closing the door behind you, then use your cell or a neighbor's phone to call 911.
Answer: C Each year, more than 600 Americans die in fires that start in the bedroom, so get yourself and everyone else out of the house as quickly as possible. "With the synthetic, highly flammable materials in furnishings and carpeting these days, you could have as little as three minutes to get out before conditions are so bad that you can't escape," warns Lorraine Carli, spokeswoman for the National Fire Protection Association in Boston. If there's smoke, drop down on the floor and crawl beneath it. Once you're out of the bedroom, close the door behind you to slow the spread of the fire and smoke and head for the nearest exit. For guidance on installing smoke alarms and formulating an escape plan, go to NFPA.org.
While you're browsing at a bookstore, you spy a woman passed out in the aisle. You…
A Immediately start pumping her chest for CPR.
B Pat her face and say loudly, "Can you hear me?"
C Sit her up and try to get her to drink a cup of water.
Answer: B If she doesn't respond within seconds or isn't breathing normally, call 911 and do CPR: Lay her on her back, lift her chin to tilt her head back, pinch her nose and deliver two one-second mouth-to-mouth breaths. Next, place the heel of one hand in the center of her chest (halfway between the nipples), put your other hand on top, interlock your fingers and lock your elbows. Push hard 30 times, aiming for a rate of 100 compressions per minute; to get the rhythm, pump to the beat of "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees. Repeat until help arrives.
You're waiting for a train when a woman on the platform has a seizure and jerks violently. You…
A Catch the victim if she falls and keep her away from the tracks.
B Lie her down and stick a pencil in her mouth so she doesn't bite off her tongue.
C Grab her in a bear hug and try to contain her spasms.
Answer: A A seizure victim probably won't bite off her tongue; the danger of choking on a foreign object that she might bite off or swallow is much worse. Call 911, and then make sure the victim can't hurt herself. She'll likely fall down, so move objects out of her way and catch her or lie her down if you can. "When someone seizes, there's often a lot of saliva in her mouth," adds Estelle Vaughns Williams, M.D., director of emergency medicine at Meadowlands Hospital and Medical Center in Secaucus, New Jersey. So when the seizure ends, turn her on her side so fluid doesn't enter her lungs.
Class acts
Visit the following websites to find a CPR, first aid or automated external defibrillator (AED) class in your area.
Keep these items nearby.
The chance of surviving a cardiac arrest decreases 10 percent for every minute that passes without bystander CPR and defibrillation. AEDs, portable versions of the paddles hospitals use, shock the heart back into a healthy rhythm. You can find them in many places where crowds gather, and the machines give audio and visual instructions on how to use them.
The American Heart Association advises doing CPR while someone else gets the defibrillator ready; then place the paddles on the victim's chest and listen for instructions. Don't touch the victim while the electricity is coursing; it may come as a shock to you!
Don't become a second victim
You can't help someone else if you get hurt, too. So stop, take a breath and assess things so that everyone—including you—gets out safely.
Look before you leap Check for immediate threats such as gas leaking from a car. If you can safely stabilize the situation (for instance, by turning off the ignition), do so. But if there's imminent danger, wait for the pros to arrive.
Don't get your feet wet Attempt a water rescue by lying on your stomach at the edge of the water and extending an arm or rope to the victim. If you can't reach and you haven't been trained in water rescues, do not take the plunge.
Build a blood barrier Exposing yourself to a stranger's body fluids is very risky. If a victim is bleeding but conscious, hand him a cloth and ask him to apply it himself. Otherwise, protect your hands with rubber gloves or a plastic bag.
Sidestep a lawsuit Good Samaritan laws vary by state, but in general, as long as you're not reckless or negligent, you can't be held liable for unintentionally harming someone while trying to help. But you may save a life.
Member's how did you do on the test...
Please add your comments/knowledge/links to this thread..
Emergency Handbook: 21 Ways to Save a Life (yours, too!)
This special quiz delivers the tools you need to cope with some of life's scariest situations.
Marisa Cohen, SELF magazine
It's the stuff movies are made of: Your car hits a slick spot on a bridge and plummets over the side into the churning water below. But this is real life—this is you, not a stunt double—and there's no crane to pluck you out of the river when the director yells, "Cut!" Now what? We've got your back. This special quiz delivers the tools you need to cope with some of life's scariest situations. Memorize the answers and stay safe out there!
You're at a cocktail party, and your friend who has just broken up with her boyfriend gets so hammered that she starts staggering and doubles over, vomiting. You…
A Put her to bed to let her sleep it off and get back to the party.
B Get her some coffee and walk outside for some fresh air.
C Have her lie down on her side and keep an eye on her.
Answer: C "If she's drunk to the point of vomiting, she's in danger of falling and hurting herself," says Brian Keaton, M.D., an emergency physician at Summa Health System in Akron, Ohio. Lie her down on her side to help prevent choking if she upchucks again, and stay with her to make sure she doesn't roll onto her back. If she can't stop throwing up, or if she's unconscious, seizing or breathing erratically, she may have alcohol poisoning. Dial 911, stat: Nearly 80,000 deaths each year in the United States are attributable to excessive alcohol use. "It's better to be embarrassed about overreacting than to do nothing and have a tragedy," Dr. Keaton stresses.
Your car skids out on a bridge, crashes through the railing and hits the water below. You…
A Kick open your window with your foot and swim through to safety.
B Open the door and swim to safety.
C Wait until the car is almost submerged, open the door and swim to safety.
Answer: B As the car sinks, it will be harder to open the door, so get out fast, says John Nielsen, an Orlando, Florida, automotive expert and director of AAA Approved Auto Repair Network. Get your bearings, undo your seat belt and open the door; if you can't, open the window. No electricity? Break the side window with a LifeHammer, a device with steel spikes, or a sharp, hard item like a pocketknife. Swim to shore and call 911.
You're biking with a friend miles from home when she hits a bump in the road and goes flying over the handlebars. When you rush over to her, her leg looks broken and she's in terrible pain. You…
A Help her sit up and move her leg into a less painful position, then call 911.
B Flag down a passing car, lift her into the backseat and get her to the hospital pronto.
C Call 911, then stay put until help arrives.
Answer: C Unless your friend is in peril—say, she's in a road with cars whizzing by—don't move her: It can worsen the break and exacerbate any internal injuries. "Try to keep her body in the same position she landed in," says Colleen Norton, Ph.D., associate professor at Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies in Washington, D.C. Call 911 and comfort her until help arrives. If she did land in traffic, flag down someone to help move her to safety. Before you do, stabilize the limb by loosely tying it with strips of your T-shirt to something stiff, such as a small branch, to minimize pain.
Your neighbor is trimming hedges and cuts a huge gash in her hand. You…
A Stick her hand under cool, running water.
B Create a tourniquet with a pencil and a T-shirt.
C Have her sit down and raise her hand over her head while you press against the wound with a towel.
Answers: A, C Forget about those tourniquet skills you learned in health class—you should use them only when the victim might bleed to death, as after an amputation. First run the laceration under clean water to wash out any foreign matter, then grab a clean T-shirt or towel and press it on the wound, keeping the area raised higher than the heart. Press until the bleeding stops; if it doesn't or the cut is deep, call 911. While you're waiting for help to arrive, have your neighbor lie down, raise her feet on a pillow and cover her with a blanket to prevent shock; continue applying pressure to the wound and keep it above the heart.
You're having sushi with a friend when she starts choking. You…
A Slap her hard on the back.
B Give her a glass of water.
C Call out for someone to dial 911 as you do the Heimlich maneuver.
Answers: A, C Surprise! The American Red Cross now advises using back slaps to save a choking victim. First, make sure she's choking: Can she breathe, speak or cough? If not, call 911, then deliver five blows with the heel of your hand in the center of her mid-to-upper back, and then do the Heimlich: Stand behind her as she leans forward, make a fist with one hand, cup it with the other, place it above the navel and below the breastbone and thrust upward and inward five times. Alternate five back slaps and five abdominal thrusts until the food pops out.
Your boyfriend is cooking linguine when the pot tips over and scalds his arm. You…
A Hold a plastic bag full of ice cubes on the burn.
B Rub butter on the burn to promote healing.
C Cover his arm with a clean towel doused in cool water.
Answer: C Putting ice on a burn can cause frostbite, says Dr. Lucenti, and butter traps heat in the skin, preventing proper healing. Instead, because fabric retains heat, take off any clothing that was soaked with the boiling water (unless it's stuck to his skin), then hold his arm under cool running water, or use a cloth soaked in cool—not freezing cold—water. If the burn is small and there's no blistering or oozing, dab on some antibiotic cream. But if his skin is blistering, peeling or swelling, or if the burn is larger than the palm of your hand, cover it with a clean cloth and head for the ER. This advice also holds true for burns from a flame or hot oil.
Your nephew trips while running down the hallway with a toothbrush in his mouth. The toothbrush gets lodged in the back of his throat. You dial 911, then…
A Leave it in, keep him standing and monitor his airway.
B Leave it in and have him lie down until help arrives.
C Gently pull out the toothbrush and give him water to drink to flush out his throat.
Answer: A The child might try to pull out the toothbrush, but tell him not to, says Martin Lucenti, M.D., an emergency room physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. If he succeeds, it could cause internal bleeding in the throat, which can block the airway. "If his breathing is irregular or if he can't talk, there may be blood in the airway," Dr. Keaton says. Keep him standing and leaning forward so he won't swallow more blood. If the toothbrush is still in his throat and he's choking on it or can't breathe, gently pull it out. If he can breathe, don't touch it—it could be acting as a dam to control the bleeding. In fact, leave in any object (a knife, scissors) that has caused a penetrating wound until you can get to the ER.
You doze off in the middle of a book and wake to smoke: The candles you lit earlier have set your curtains on fire. You…
A Race for a pot of water to put out the fire.
B Grab your wallet and laptop and dash for the door.
C Leave your bedroom, closing the door behind you, then use your cell or a neighbor's phone to call 911.
Answer: C Each year, more than 600 Americans die in fires that start in the bedroom, so get yourself and everyone else out of the house as quickly as possible. "With the synthetic, highly flammable materials in furnishings and carpeting these days, you could have as little as three minutes to get out before conditions are so bad that you can't escape," warns Lorraine Carli, spokeswoman for the National Fire Protection Association in Boston. If there's smoke, drop down on the floor and crawl beneath it. Once you're out of the bedroom, close the door behind you to slow the spread of the fire and smoke and head for the nearest exit. For guidance on installing smoke alarms and formulating an escape plan, go to NFPA.org.
While you're browsing at a bookstore, you spy a woman passed out in the aisle. You…
A Immediately start pumping her chest for CPR.
B Pat her face and say loudly, "Can you hear me?"
C Sit her up and try to get her to drink a cup of water.
Answer: B If she doesn't respond within seconds or isn't breathing normally, call 911 and do CPR: Lay her on her back, lift her chin to tilt her head back, pinch her nose and deliver two one-second mouth-to-mouth breaths. Next, place the heel of one hand in the center of her chest (halfway between the nipples), put your other hand on top, interlock your fingers and lock your elbows. Push hard 30 times, aiming for a rate of 100 compressions per minute; to get the rhythm, pump to the beat of "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees. Repeat until help arrives.
You're waiting for a train when a woman on the platform has a seizure and jerks violently. You…
A Catch the victim if she falls and keep her away from the tracks.
B Lie her down and stick a pencil in her mouth so she doesn't bite off her tongue.
C Grab her in a bear hug and try to contain her spasms.
Answer: A A seizure victim probably won't bite off her tongue; the danger of choking on a foreign object that she might bite off or swallow is much worse. Call 911, and then make sure the victim can't hurt herself. She'll likely fall down, so move objects out of her way and catch her or lie her down if you can. "When someone seizes, there's often a lot of saliva in her mouth," adds Estelle Vaughns Williams, M.D., director of emergency medicine at Meadowlands Hospital and Medical Center in Secaucus, New Jersey. So when the seizure ends, turn her on her side so fluid doesn't enter her lungs.
Class acts
Visit the following websites to find a CPR, first aid or automated external defibrillator (AED) class in your area.
- <LI sizcache="22" sizset="68">AmericanHeart.org Click on CPR & ECC (which stands for emergency cardiovascular care) for a list of American Heart Association classes. <LI sizcache="22" sizset="69">Or learn at home in about 20 minutes with its CPR Anytime training kit CPRAnytime.org. <LI sizcache="22" sizset="70">RedCross.org Enter your ZIP code to locate a list of American Red Cross courses near you.
- NSC.org Click on the Training link to find a National Safety Council center in your state that offers emergency-care and first aid courses.
Keep these items nearby.
- Purse: Mini-flashlight, bottle of water, whistle, critical meds, adhesive bandages <LI sizcache="22" sizset="72">Car: Preparedness kit like the Ice-Qube to Go (Ice-Qube.com), reflective triangles, bottled water, LifeHammer (LifeHammer.com) to break glass, sneakers, compass, pencil
- Home: Hand-cranked radio and flashlight, first aid kit, antibacterial soap, any vital drugs, bottled water, canned food, can opener, CB radio, batteries, duct tape
The chance of surviving a cardiac arrest decreases 10 percent for every minute that passes without bystander CPR and defibrillation. AEDs, portable versions of the paddles hospitals use, shock the heart back into a healthy rhythm. You can find them in many places where crowds gather, and the machines give audio and visual instructions on how to use them.
The American Heart Association advises doing CPR while someone else gets the defibrillator ready; then place the paddles on the victim's chest and listen for instructions. Don't touch the victim while the electricity is coursing; it may come as a shock to you!
Don't become a second victim
You can't help someone else if you get hurt, too. So stop, take a breath and assess things so that everyone—including you—gets out safely.
Look before you leap Check for immediate threats such as gas leaking from a car. If you can safely stabilize the situation (for instance, by turning off the ignition), do so. But if there's imminent danger, wait for the pros to arrive.
Don't get your feet wet Attempt a water rescue by lying on your stomach at the edge of the water and extending an arm or rope to the victim. If you can't reach and you haven't been trained in water rescues, do not take the plunge.
Build a blood barrier Exposing yourself to a stranger's body fluids is very risky. If a victim is bleeding but conscious, hand him a cloth and ask him to apply it himself. Otherwise, protect your hands with rubber gloves or a plastic bag.
Sidestep a lawsuit Good Samaritan laws vary by state, but in general, as long as you're not reckless or negligent, you can't be held liable for unintentionally harming someone while trying to help. But you may save a life.
Member's how did you do on the test...
Please add your comments/knowledge/links to this thread..
Last edited by Space; 01-28-2012 at 07:20 AM.
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