Mary Kennedy submitted 2020-03-24
Having the knowledge on how to perform CPR is crucial in saving someone’s life. I have worked in a hospital setting where I had to perform CPR on someone. My patient was not breathing and was turning blue. I realized that I would have to perform CPR in order increase his chances of survival. I screamed for someone to call for help (press code blue). My adrenaline kicked in and I started doing chest compression. In the moment, everything just clicked and worked out smoothly. With working at a hospital, I was required to recertify my CPR license every three months. This is very helpful because it would be fresh in my head whenever I would need to perform CPR. Mentally, I was not prepared to do this. I told myself that even if I am doing this wrong, I still have a sense of knowing that I am in the right direction and I am still doing something that is saving someone’s life. Physically, I was prepared because of all the training and recertification I had to do. In the moment, my mental state and physical state didn’t align yet. Eventually, it did, and we were able to save the man. To be physically prepared, I feel like it should be required to recertify every few months because one training class isn’t going to stick in your head for the next 2 years. It could be mentally and physically straining having to recertify so often but you could potentially save a life. That is the most rewarding feeling you could ever feel. My husband is in law enforcement and he had to perform CPR many times. Sometimes it would save a life and sometimes it doesn’t. He once told me this story about his first-time performing CPR. This motorcyclist crashed and his body was dismembered; however, he was required to perform CPR until medics arrive and pronounce the motorcyclist as deceased. Every chest compressions and breaths given could have given the motorcyclist a better chance of survival. However, due to the circumstances, it was too late. My husband was mentally drained after this night. I get it, it is hard because he wanted to save this man’s life, but his chances of survival were already low. It gets tough but at the end of the day, he did what he could to try to save his life. The medics thanked him because they said if the circumstances were different, the man would have survived. Knowing what to do during an emergency situation that would require CPR is crucial. The chances of survival would increase if CPR was performed immediately. Performing CPR immediately would help prevent brain damage due to the lack of oxygen being received. There are so many situations where CPR would be crucial for survival: heart problems, lung problems, drowning, chocking and many more. My family friend owns a CPR class where her husband, who is a Washington State Trooper, is teaching the class. He expresses the importance of just having the knowledge of what to do. Even though you might not have to ever perform CPR, it is still important to know how to in case something does happen. My husband and I just had our first daughter. We are currently staying with my husband’s parents since we just moved to be closer to them. There backyard has a swimming pool. We are scared that someone is going to let our daughter out when she is older and not supervise her. She could fall into the pool and drown. With having my husband in law enforcement, he made sure everyone in the house knows how to do CPR. He does not want to take any chances of knowing that CPR could’ve been done, and it could’ve saved a life. My husband and his dad were a State Trooper for Washington State. They have been in so many situations that required CPR. They are passionate about wanting to teach CPR to people because it can help “buy time” until help arrives. They are in the process of working with our family friend to open up a CPR workshop to help educate people on what to do when an emergency situation occurs and why it is important to know what to do. My advice for students’ entering the healthcare field is to push yourself to be better. Although you might feel like you don’t need a certain training, it is always a good idea to do the training anyways. You don’t know when it would come in handy. You will be mentally and physically tired but, in the end, it is all worth it.