CPR facts and trivia

Ok let’s try something new this week.  This week we’ll do a bit of trivia for those trivia buffs out there.  Who knows when one of these little bits of interesting facts might be on “Jeopardy” or even “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”  Ok, so here goes.

1)      When was the first reported recommendation for the use of mouth to mouth for drowning victims, and where was it at?  Believe it or not, the first time it was recommended was in Paris, France back in 1740.

2)      Where and who gave the first documented chest compressions?  This took place over 150 years later in 1891 by Dr. Friedrich Maas, but it was 12 years later, in 1903, when Dr. George Crile performed the first successful use of the compressions.  The following year Dr. Crile also performed the first closed chest cardiac massage.

3)      Who holds the claim for figuring out that expired air (the outgoing breaths we use for mouth to mouth) would work just as well for oxygenation?  That claim to fame goes to James Elam, in 1954, over 200 years after it was first recommended back in France.  Two years later James and his partner, Peter Safar, invent mouth to mouth as we know it today.  The following year the US military adopts it as a way to revive unresponsive victims.

4)      When was the first program established for emergency dispatchers to use over the phone instructions for CPR and where?  It was begun in King County, Washington back in 1981, and was so successful that every dispatcher now has the ability to handle that over the phone.

5)      When was the first introduction of pediatric CPR?  That wasn’t addressed until 1988, cosponsored with The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).  Apparently, it wasn’t something many people thought about until that point in time.

6)      What year did the American Heart Association (AHA) make significant changes to the compression to ventilation requirements?  That happened in 2005 at the International Consensus on ECC and CPR Science with Treatment Recommendations (CoSTR) Conference.  They changed the amount of times you do compressions before you ventilate the victim as well as added in some AED changes as well.  Three years later they recommended any adult giving assistance to a fallen bystander to only do chest compressions until certified help arrives. 

Ok, so there is a bit of CPR facts you may never have known and now can stump your friends with some of the newest bit of trivia you just learned.  Check out the AHA website for more facts of CPR we may not have gone over here.  That site is www.heart.org and is where we found the facts we listed here today.

Truck Safety

Pop quiz time on trucking safety.  Let’s put on our thinking caps and see what we know in this true/false quiz.  I hope you have a pen or pencil handy.

1)      True or False:  Using two fingers for the landing gear is the best thing to do to save time.

2)      True or False: It’s safe to work on the opposite side of the load while a fork lift unloads from the other side.

3)      True or False:  It’s safe to lean backwards while climbing down a ladder on a trailer.

4)      True or False:  Using a ramp that’s not pinned or is uneven is just as safe as anything else.

5)      True or False:  You can use a cellphone anywhere you want at any time after you park your truck.

 

Ok put your pencils down and let’s see how you did.

1)      False:  Using only two fingers for the landing gear IS NOT a wise thing to do.  This causes you to rush and can result in serious injuries to the face.  One trucker had his nose broken when he leaned in too close while using only two fingers.  A very painful lesson to learn the hard way.

2)      False:  You want to stay clear of your load while it is being unloaded by a forklift as the load could become loose and fall on you.  A trucker lost his life by doing just that as the load shifted and fell on him.

3)      False: You want to keep yourself straight and tall while climbing down ladders as when you lean backwards you risk injury to yourself.  You could slip and break bones when you land and risk of death from the fall as well depending on the height from which you fell.  A trucker learned that lesson the hard way on a dark, cold morning when he was leaning back and slipped between the rungs and fell backwards and broke 7 ribs.

4)      False: Using an unpinned ramp or one that is not even can cause injury to the trucker.  If the ramp is unpinned it could become loose from the vibrations and even if you have walked it several times one of those could have you on the ground with injuries.  And with it uneven you again risk injuries because the load could become unstable and fall taking you with it.

5)      False:  After you park your truck, you should make sure that you are in a safe area before using your phone.  If you decide to stand beside or behind your truck talking on it you risk not being seen by a forklift that may have been sent to unload or one that is carrying a load from another truck. 

Ok so we have learned 5 very valuable lessons for today as sadly many truckers have learned these lessons the hard way including death.  We hope that you remember these safety lessons and practice them while you are out and doing your job.