THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 16, 1996 TAG: 9602160040
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LAUREN ALDER, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
T WO EXPERIENCES have changed my life forever. They were situations that changed other people's lives, too.
The first incident happened at work. I was a lifeguard at a neighborhood pool when a young girl playing in the water was kicked in the chest. She began to seize. I called for an ambulance knowing that she required professional help.
She was having trouble breathing. The other lifeguard and I thought we might have to administer rescue breathing. Although we didn't need to after all, I was glad that we were trained in CPR and First Aid.
My second experience hit even closer to home. After a challenging workout at swim practice one day, I turned to congratulate my best friend. Having finished an especially tough practice, she was ecstatic. So was I.
Then I turned to talk with another friend, one of the best swimmers on the team, only to see him crouched down under the surface of the water. I figured he was ``taking a breather'' but I asked another person in my lane if he was OK.
``Yeah,'' I was told. ``He's just playing around.''
He'll come up in a minute, I thought.
But after a few seconds, he didn't come up. The game wasn't funny any more. I reached to pull him up; he was completely stiff. As I lifted him toward the surface, his position did not change. I took one look at him - at his purple lips, his strange expression - and terror struck.
I screamed to my coach in a voice that told him there was no time to lose. The coach was there in a split second, but lifting my friend out of the water and starting CPR seemed to take forever.
Everyone was in shock. This never should have happened! But it had.
We all turned our backs trying to block the shouts of the coaches calling out the number of chest compressions, their statements that there was no pulse, that he still wasn't breathing!
Later, even after I knew my friend was OK, the horror didn't go away. I couldn't sleep that night and I was a little afraid to get back in the water.
You figure you can call 911 or a coach or lifeguard for help, but if no one comes what do you do? Are you prepared to save your best friend's life?
It's the kind of question everyone ought to be able to answer without a second thought. To answer ``yes'', you need to know cardiopulmonary resuscitation - more commonly known as CPR. CPR is a lifesaving technique involving two steps: rescue breathing and chest com-pressions.
Rescue breathing alone can be used when when a pulse is present but no breathing is visible. The chest compressions come into play when there is no pulse. Training in both CPR and First Aid is required for lifeguards, day care workers or any other job where the risk for accident is high.
It is easy for the rest of us to make excuses for not being certified in CPR and First Aid.
Say, for example, you don't have enough time. Right. So what if you have to get up at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning to get to CPR class on time? Isn't your best friend's life worth a $35 fee and an afternoon?
Maybe you're afraid the class will be a wasted effort. . . that if a situation arises and you actually have to take action, you'll freeze up and forget everything. One thing the instructors stress is that anything you can do is better than nothing at all.
Can't find a place to take the courses, you say? Many fitness centers and all Red Cross offices offer them. Many schools, churches and community organizations make time and space for these classes as well.
``I think everybody should be trained,'' said Renee Figurelle, of the American Red Cross. ``You never know when an accident is going to happen.''
The Norfolk Public School System requires every seventh-grade student to pass an adult CPR course. Hopefully, in the next few years other cities will follow their example.
In the past year, 8,606 people were certified by the Red Cross, a number that has remained stagnant over the years.
Death. It is not a topic we like to think about especially when it involves our friends and loved ones. But sometimes there are things we can do to help. Know what to do so that you can have the confidence to do something. Be prepared, not scared. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Lauren Alder is a junior at Norfolk Academy.
by CNB