AMR offers free demonstrations to community
Local AMR crew members greeted shoppers at the Hy-Vee entry, offering free CPR and defibrillator lessons. Press photos by Kate Hayden
Paramedic Matthew Retz displays where to place the pads of an automated external defibrillator (AED) on a person. Pads should be placed below the collarbone on the upper ride side of a person's bare chest, and below the breast on the left side.
When delivering CPR to infants, only use two fingers to press down on the center of the chest in quick succession. Compressions should press down about 1.5 inches deep.
By Kate Hayden, khayden@charlescitypress.com
Local emergency service providers are offering on-the-go CPR training during EMS Week this year, which runs from May 21-27.
American Medical Response (AMR) puts on an annual national challenge to see how many community members AMR crews can train, paramedic Matthew Retz said. This year’s challenge will run all week instead of a single day.
AMR crew members greeted shoppers at Hy-Vee from 9 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, and will be in front of the Charles City Public Library from 3-6 p.m. Last year, the crew trained 247 people in one six-hour session.
“Hopefully we can get above 200” this year, Retz said.
Twenty-nine AMR crew members are taking turns volunteering during the training drive.
In emergency situations, AMR crew members advise to call 911 immediately after determining an individual is unconscious, before beginning CPR. For adults, use both hands braced to give compressions to the center of the chest. For children, use only one hand, or only two fingers to give compressions on infants.
“It’s hands-only CPR. There’s no more breathing into the mouth,” Retz said. “The time it takes to stop pumping on the chest and to breathe, you lose most of the pressure of the blood going to your head. They’ve shown that the little bit of oxygen in the blood is better than having to work again to get all that blood back up to the head, because it takes about 15 compressions to actually get blood up there.”
“Doing anything is better than nothing to help your community,” EMT Bill Duncan said.
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