Two days ago I happened to be in the office of a very prominent physician in Los Angeles. This doctor’s practice was focused on an area of medicine not common for dealing with emergency situations. While there in the waiting room, the unexpected happened – an emergency.
Within one of the back office rooms, someone was having an asthma attack. I knew there was no equipment or medication in this office to treat asthma attacks and was interested to see how this emergency would be handled. Fortunately, the staff proved cool-headed, professional and proficient in dealing with this patient’s situation. Contacting pre-hospital services through the emergency 9-1-1 system was absolutely the correct next-step and exactly what this office did.
Asthma is one of those conditions that can be triggered by any number of things from environmental factors to stress. Once triggered, the airways swell and massive amounts of mucous can be produced causing difficulty breathing, coughing and wheezing. If left untreated, the symptoms can progress to no air exchange, cyanosis (bluish coloring to lips and fingertips) and even death. Treatment is necessary to reverse the snowball effects of asthma and early treatment is optimal.
Consider what you would do in a situation in which you encounter someone who suddenly experienced an asthma attack. Of course, the right course of action is to provide assistance (usually asthmatics carry inhalers containing rescue-medications which counter the asthma response) and calling 9-1-1 is always appropriate. But let’s say this person suddenly stops breathing and you must act while waiting for paramedics to arrive.
Would you know what to do?
BLS Training in Orange County are offered to respond to a situation such as this. Learn the skills needed to be prepared when asthma strikes. You can easily rest assured you will know what to do when asthma triggers.
