Heavy drums beat rapidly in the background of my consciousness. The lone “dub” in a heartbeat’s “lub dub”…but faster. Dub, dub, dub, dub…
I snapped back to a present awareness and realized the blade noise from my aircraft was beating its own rhythm as the helicopter settled onto the landing zone. Our medi-vac flight crew responded per protocol to a reported Pediatric Arrest in progress. The shape of mortality defines itself subtlety, much the way life does. Whether sober and aware or perhaps disengaged and oblivious, death arrives – the outcome of series of seemingly random patterned actions. Sometimes in life, we acquiesce to fate, a hopeful benign neglect with an inattention to the details of self preservation. Without thinking, assumptions are made: the car will stop at the intersection, my 2 year old son won’t put that coin in his mouth, etc. But sometimes even our best predictions are wrong.
SureFire CPR can help manage the hazards inherent in life. Perhaps work involves managing risk. Paramedics, nurses, lifeguards and physicians all specialize in reshaping the outcome of life’s risks on a daily basis. As medical professionals, risk is an anticipated component of everyday life both on and off the job. Risk, at its best, is what draws emergency medical experts, like moths to bright light, to the challenge of changing a sure fate. The public relies on these professionals to be proficient in this challenge. SureFire CPR provides the exact standard of education in its American Heart Association certified courses. SureFire CPR is Orange County’s comprehensive medical education provider.
A large part of our lives is spent acting on and avoiding danger. So seat belts are worn inside the car, helmets on bikes and life jackets on a boat. As auto technology has advanced, we feel very safe enveloped in the steel cocoon of an automobile’s frame and air bags.
Pediatric Emergencies in Real Life
I am no different. Last week en route to grandma’s house (a 20 minute drive), I gave my son a few toys to pass the time and entertain himself with. He was seated directly behind me playing with one of his car toys. He’d been teething recently, chewing on everything in sight. As we drove, I could hear him playing quietly, the sounds blending in to the others chattering within the car. Suddenly I felt a change, a shift in the ‘stereo’ played inside our ride. I looked quickly at my son who had placed both hands up to his mouth, obviously in distress. I quickly pulled the car to the shoulder of the freeway and jumped out. Frantically I extracted him from his car seat and lifted him up and out of the car, thumping him on his back as I threw him over one arm. Out popped a nickel. Miraculously, one of life’s “close calls” had been managed.
SureFire CPR’s educators are standing ready to help prepare for life’s emergencies. If managing risk is your profession, being as prepared as possible to perform competently is a must. Any of our top notch courses: First Aid, CPR, Advanced Cardiac Life Support, or Pediatric Advanced Life Support will facilitate this goal.
Be prepared to safe a life!
