The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) team at the Princess Alexandra Hospital has been conducting various activities this week as part of 2023 EMS Week.
On Tuesday 23rd May, 2023, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., the EMS team conducted first aid lessons, particularly in the area of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation of the airway in an effort to manually preserve brain function.
These training sessions for the public were held at the Scouts and Guides Gazebo, in the vicinity of the National Commercial Bank of Anguilla.
Many members of the public dropped by, on their way from doing their banking transactions, to familiarize themselves with life-saving procedures that may well enable them to preserve the life of someone with cardiac arrest, should such a need arise.
According to EMS Supervisor, Steve McDowall, people were calling to ask if they can register for the sessions, but he explained that it is just a one-day event where person can benefit by just “stopping by” at random.
In explaining the CPR procedure, Mr. McDowall said that in Cardiac arrest the heart stops beating, putting the patient in a very critical condition.
“The key objective in carrying out the chest compressions,” he said, “is to make an effort to push oxygenated blood from the heart to the brain so that the brain would be stimulated. Once the brain is stimulated with blood, it would send a signal back to the heart, commanding it to resume pumping on its own. In this way the patient would be brought back to consciousness.”
Some of the persons who were engaged in the lessons complained about being tired pumping and then blowing air into the “patient’s” mouth. But Mr. MacDowell said that in emergency situations being tired should not be a factor. The prime concern should be to get the victim revived as quickly as possible.
He said that at times, when the ambulance picks up an accident victim in West End, for example, EMS personnel must be performing chest compressions all the way from West End up to the hospital. Fortunately, the team travels in twos, so that when one gets “tired” the other one takes over the pumping and blowing.
Persons who participated in the CPR training activity expressed their satisfaction in that they are now able to administer this area of first aid, and they were indeed thankful to the EMS team.
