Would you know what to do if you were to drive around a curve and find a car wreck? What to do if someone starts choking at a restaurant? The right answers to provide to a 911 operator when you call in an emergency? What to do if someone you love goes into cardiac arrest?
Since cardiac arrests most often occur in homes/residences (73.4 %), followed by public settings (16.3 %) and nursing homes (10.3 %), having the right skills could be a matter of life or death.
The American Heart Association reports that cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), if applied immediately, can double or triple the chance of survival from an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
A group of local residents decided they wanted to be better prepared and bit the bullet in August 2024 to learn CPR and other life-saving skills. Through presentations and practice at hands-on skill stations, participants learned how to access help in the event of a life-threatening emergency and what to do until Emergency Medical Services (EMS) arrive.
During a fast-paced, four-hour session, Todd Doster, a retired Emergency Medical Technician, efficiently covered a wide range of topics including how to conduct hands-only CPR and AED (Automated External Defibrillator), how to administer naloxone and epinephrine, and how to respond to life-threatening bleeding including packing chest wounds.
Doster explained that the Otto Fire Department began offering free First on the Scene training to local residents when it determined that buying extra time for local fire, police, and medical personnel could save lives in the community.
The course was developed by the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians and the International Association of Fire Chiefs to teach basic emergency response actions to life-threatening emergencies until EMS arrives on the scene. Considering the distances local EMS have to travel to reach residents in Macon County, immediate actions learned in courses like this have saved lives.
Doster told the group the goal for the Otto Fire Department is to have more people trained to do immediate chest compressions in a cardiac event, or who can administer naloxone during an opiate overdose, or even just have awareness on how to provide proper directions and information about people in distress when calling 911, which gives the fire department and other emergency workers a head start on taking over the medical care once they arrive on scene.
Based on the enthusiastic participation of folks from Otto, Franklin, Highlands, and Nantahala in the class that day in August, being able to demystify how an EpiPen works, learning hand-off turns on doing chest compressions on a practice dummy, and even being able to ask basic questions about how local emergency helicopter evacuations are conducted was a step in the right direction to being better prepared.
Barbara Miller, who had missed earlier iterations of the course, threw herself into every exercise, taking notes, and closely following Doster’s directions. When asked if she found the course useful, she replied, “Oh yes. I’ve been wanting to do learn this for some time. Being able to practice and learn how much pressure to apply in CPR was hard, but worth it.”
The next First on the Scene course will be held at the Otto Fire Department, 60 Firehouse Rd, Otto, on Saturday, Nov. 23, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. To ensure sufficient space, anyone interested in attending is asked to pre-register by sending an email to [email protected]
Pictured above: Todd Doster is the instructor of a First on the Scene training program held recently in Otto. The next class is planned for Saturday, Nov. 23, at the Otto Fire Department.