Learn CPR!

So I realized not everyone has needs for a mass email marketing server like mail chimp... But that's okay! Hopefully that will all be useful reference information should the need actually materialize =).

SO you'll never guess what happened today. I was at school (on a Saturday, I know...) studying in Irving Barber Learning Center which is basically a big study hall with tons of chairs and tables for students to use as study space and whatnot. Great environment to concentrate in, the buzz of academic chatter is really helpful in getting the brain juice flowing and the focus down.

Anyway, some dude a couple tables down starts coughing out of the corner of my ear... Unnoticeable at first, until he starts coughing louder and louder and that's when I look up from my textbook to see what's going on. His face is crimson red and he's coughing, his hands are crossed on his neck (universal sign for choking!) and it's pretty evident there's an obstruction in his throat. I look around his area to try to figure out what could've happened, and see an open tupperware bowl full of grapes. Ah.

He keeps coughing until suddenly, no sound comes out of his throat anymore. He's wheezing at this point and unable to get any air out... Full obstruction. Luckily, another guy from a table away jumps up and offers him CPR. He starts doing J-thrusts on his abdomen to force the grape out... Pop! Shoots it across the table.

Basically everyone in the hall just witnessed a guy inches away from death... Then being rescued through CPR.

I personally took a few courses in CPR and I can't stress how useful it is. If anyone you know (god forbid) should drop down and start having a heart attack, you will be SO thankful that you spent the hundred-ish dollars to take that CPR course. In fact, it doesn't have to be a full on CPR course, most of them come in the form of a First Aid course with CPR, so it comes with general first aid treatments and stuff. Check out St. John's for the courses, they offer tons of these. I think you might even be able to find CPR course online to a similar effect; just be sure they issue the certification for it so you know it's legit. However, I advise against online CPR courses simply because there's a lot you learn from doing hands on.

I think some other places call it ACLS, or Advanced Cardiac Life Support. Should be similar to CPR though, perhaps more specialized. Some AED training courses (automated external defibrillator, basically the shock paddles that doctors shock patients with when they go into cardiac arrest) also have CPR bundled. CPR comes in a wide range of shapes and sizes, but really it's an excellent skill to have under your belt, even at the beginner's level. Accidents happen everywhere, and you need to be prepared for it... If that guy hadn't jumped up and offered CPR, we'd have had a dead student on our hands. No laughing matter.

Get trained in first aid!