You take the first aid courses not necessarily expecting to ever put it into practice.
I put my first aid training to use for the first time this month after an evening outing to a 24/7 convenience store turned into assisting in a drug overdose while waiting for paramedics to arrive.
I spoke with Leon Baranowski from BC Emergency Health Services on being a witness to an overdose. The public stepping up to assist in medical emergencies can make a big difference.
"Public do assist in supporting patients prior to paramedic arrival often at the direction of our emergency calltakers."
Baranowski says if you witness a medical emergency, the first thing to do is call 9-1-1. Disaptchers can coach you on how to best assist.
"This is really a chain of survival and everybody has a roll to play. Be it the member of public who puts in the 911 call and starts CPR, all the way through to management and the direction and advice the calltaker provides to the early dispatchers and resources by our dispatch collegues and first responders, all the way to paramedic arrival, all the way through down to hospital."
That's what I did in my bystander experience. 911 was called and the dispatcher walked me through the necessary actions. Thankfully CPR wasn't required, but I was prepared to do whatever necessary.
Baranowski says it's a life-saving measure anyone can perform. "In cardiac arrest your heart is not pumping blood around the body. So, when blood is not circulating around the body oxygen is not getting to all of the vital organs that it needs to to keep it all functioning. Jumping on someone's chest and doing CPR basically helps pump that blood around the body and any oxygen that happens to be remaining in the body continues to be circulated."
A person's chance of survival lessens by 10% for every minute CPR isn't administered.
What might deter someone from helping? Baranowski says the COVID pandemic is definitely a barrier, but mouth to mouth isn't actually required.
"A lot of research has been done now looking at the chain of survivial, and what we know is that bystander initiated CPR and the early use of an AED can increase that chance of survival by up to 75%. So, just putting your hands on someone's chest and undertaking CPR can make all the difference, and mouth to mouth isn't necessarily needed in a large majority of these cases."