Why Take Basic Life Support (BLS)?
By Lifesaver Education
Tim Richards, a 61-year-old man with a history of diabetes and hypertension, complains to his wife Claire at the breakfast table one morning that he awoke early due to indigestion. He tells her that he still feels unwell, and is unable to eat his breakfast due to nausea. Claire notices that he is sweating and is continuously rubbing his chest and upper abdomen. As he is checking his blood glucose level in preparation for his daily insulin dose, he gasps, clutches his chest, and falls to the floor.
Although Claire feels panicked, she knows what to do. She has recently taken a basic life support course offered at her local hospital. She quickly determines that Tim is not breathing and doesn’t have a detectable pulse. She calls 9-1-1 and tells the operator that her husband has suffered a cardiac arrest and asks that an ambulance be dispatched immediately. She begins the sequence of providing ventilation and compressions to her husband, just as she performed them on a mannequin in the class she took just a few short weeks ago. She is very frightened, but finds that she remembers all the steps she was taught and practiced so diligently.
Within 10 minutes, paramedics enter the house and take over Tim’s care from a relieved Claire. The paramedics continue CPR, start an intravenous line, provide electrical energy to Tim’s heart and administer emergency drugs. “We’ve got a pulse”, one of the paramedics says triumphantly. Tim is loaded in the ambulance and transported to the nearest hospital. Claire rides along in the ambulance.
Doctors at the hospital determine that Tim suffered a massive myocardial infarction, or heart attack. They give him medication to dissolve the clot that caused the heart attack and admit him to the Intensive Care Unit. Doctors tell Claire that Tim would not be here were it not for Claire and the excellent CPR she provided to Tim prior to the paramedic’s arrival. The CPR course that Claire took saved her husband’s life. She tells her friends and family that it was “money well spent” and urges them all to do the same because, she tells everyone, “you never know when you might need it”.
The above scenario is repeated in homes and public places, on family members and strangers and by lay persons and health professionals every day. Basic Life Support classes teach the skills necessary to save a life. Whether it is stranger’s life you save, or that of a loved one, there is no greater satisfaction than knowing that you were instrumental in saving a life. To find out more about how you can take a Los Angeles CPR class or BLS course, please visit Lifesaver Ed.
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"I have taken PALS & recertified x2 and this is the best course I've ever taken. This is the most accessible. Love having repetetive access to mannequins & also the instructor was clear, precise & emphasized important points very effectively."
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Julie W., MD
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