The importance of CPR first aid courses
After recent mass shootings across the country, it’s gotten many people to take up a CPR and first aid course. How effective are those courses, and when do those learned skills actually get put to use?
“Medical calls are the vast majority of what we do here at the fire department,” said Collin Jensen, a Firefighter/EMT Advanced for the Idaho Falls Fire Department.
In 2017, the IFFD received 11,592 ambulance calls. That’s about 2,000 more than the amount they got in 2016. Which makes these types of calls happen more than you think.
“We actually had a cardiac arrest last night,” mentioned Jensen, who has been with IFFD for 2 1/2 years. “We went through the full protocol, and used our skills last night on the call.”
Jensen has been an EMT/Firefighter for 5 years, and has been trained in the safety courses the same amount of time.
These skills are not only useful to EMT’s, but for the public as well.
“Being able to know how to do CPR and compressions for CPR is gonna give that person that’s having that event the best chance to be viable and come back from that cardiac event,” said Jensen.
The fire department does their best to help educate the public with CPR and first aid by hosting classes.
“It’s important for not only you to understand those skills, but for you to inform others at a situation like that to have those skills,” explains Jensen. “Because it’s going to take more than one person to do effective CPR.”
The IFFD says that when they get enough interest in holding a CPR and first aide class, the instructors will put one together upon request. To request a class, call Headquarters at Downtown Station 1 at 208-612-8211.
The IFFD was also was recently awarded an assistance to firefighters grant of $110,000 for eight Lucas Device Systems. The device gives mechanical chest compressions for patients that require CPR. IFFD say that the machine does the compression’s continuously and even more efficiently than the EMT’s can. They say this is the best way a patient can get treatment.
“When were moving a patient whether it be from a bed or from a restaurant, we can put them on a stretcher, we can put them on a backboard even if its upstairs the machine will continue to do compressions which is the most important part of CPR,” explained Jensen.
This new equipment will be important for longer transports that could be up to an hour to Idaho Falls.
