As a medical doctor with 25 + years

of Emergency Room experience, Dr. Holt

is telling you here....It is a terrible mistake to

wait even a few minutes for an ambulance to arrive,

assuming that trained personnel will be able to do

much better than you, right now, can do! ...If indeed

the victim is someone you know, perhaps a member

of your family...and you are certain they are

unconscious, and not sleeping, and ARE NOT

BREATHING, YOU MUST MAKE SURE THEY CAN

BREATHE, and perhaps BREATHE FOR THEM!

Many people who otherwise would have been dead,

are alive today because someone tilted their head

a little, or removed some obvious object from their

mouth or throat! ...Others are alive because some-

one, often a family member, breathed for them until

an ambulance arrived....BE CAREFUL...BUT TRY!

Step 1......Don't waste time moving the

patient!.[Unless they are connected to a live electrical

device, or or otherwise in harm's way]...... Do tilt their

head back while supporting their neck unless they

have fallen and their neck may be injured...if so, skip

this move and go directly to Step 2...

Step 2...Do make certain that nothing is

choking the patient that is obvious, a piece of meat or

vomited food for example...if the tongue has fallen

back, with a piece of cloth [tongues are slippery]

grasp it an pull it out a bit [if the victim complains,

your problems are less than you thought they were!]

Do pull the chin and jaw forward as in the illustra-

tion...this can be done without moving the neck, if

you suspect the neck may be injured.....

DO YELL for assistance besides calling

911, especially if the victim is not yet breathing...

Although not impossible, one-person CPR is difficult

and tiring, and other people nearby may be more

skillful or athletic than you are....

......DO begin resque breathing unless there is good

reason to believe the person has some life-threaten-

ing disease....If they are your friend, or in your

family, you would know that...In the end, the

decision is up to you if there is a known risk to

you....

......DO PAY ATTENTION to what is happening to

the victim...If your efforts to breathe for them are

being effective, their chest should move out when

you blow in, and air should come out of their

mouth and nose as you rest between breaths...

Small children and babies cannot tolerate full adult breaths, be

careful with them and blow only hard enough to move their

chests or abdomens....

The trick is to make a good seal any way you

can...perhaps by pinching the victim's nose shut

while you breath in their mouth, etc. ..If it's

not working, try something different!

the victim complains you are hurting him or her...

If a long time has elapsed and still no signs of

life, and no pulse, you may wish to attempt to

push on the mid-lower-chest 4 - 6 times in

between each breath, counting like this 1 and 2

and 3 and 4, etc..with compressions on the

numbers...If someone else is helping you, this

is much easier...

And that's my advice to those who DON'T KNOW CPR!

Of course, if you DO know CPR, you'll have gone ahead

and done all this, only BETTER, instead of reading this!

If this helps anyone, or you have any suggestions as to how

to say it better, write me at decoderdoc@netscape.net