Remember to Save Yourself First

When I teach First Aid or CPR, the first American Red Cross mantra you learn is “Check, Call, Care.”  You Check the scene for safety, Call 911 if it seems necessary, then provide Care.  It all seems so simple and logical in the classroom.  But for all that seems to make sense, the reality is that the compassionate urge in us to save others often overrides that sensibility.  Humanity cries out in pain and we respond, often forgetting about what is most important – ourselves.

Tragically, this very scenario played out a few days ago in Los Angeles.  On August 22, a car lost control and hit a light pole, then knocked off a fire hydrant.  The injured driver was in the car when he was spotted by a woman witnessing the event.  Without hesitating, her husband said, the Los Angeles resident hopped out of her car to help him.  Not realizing the situation involved the electricity, she was died immediately as she stepped in the electrified water to rescue the driver.  To compound the tragedy, a second woman was also electrocuted while trying to pull the first rescuer to safety. (1)

Stories such as this are extraordinarily sad.  Here is someone trying to do the right thing, extending a hand to someone in need, then paying dearly for that self-less act.  This is not something that happens only to the untrained, either.  Records show that even highly trained rescuers can succumb to this irresistible urge.  Two years ago in New York, one volunteer fireman collapsed in a manhole when another volunteer fireman noticed and went in to rescue him.  Both men died from suffocation. (2)

We learn and we prepare, but we also need to remind ourselves that our most important asset is ourselves.  Be prepared and be ready to act.  Just make sure the first life you save is your own.  Only then, can you help others.

(1) http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/24/local/la-me-0824-electrocution-20120824

(2) http://rocorescue.wordpress.com/2010/09/09/low-levels-of-oxygen-detected-in-manhole-accident/

Grandma, the Original Emergency Responder

I am old enough to have lived during a time when people looked after their neighbors. At least that was my grandmother’s philosophy. I remember the visits to my grandparents’ house always included trips to various neighbors as my grandma’s aide. There was never any indication that these trips were a burden on my grandmother and they seemed quite a natural thing to do. The persons we visited were all elderly and in need of some help and seemed to greet my grandmother with great appreciation yet with the same natural acceptance of her visit as if she were related to all of them.

As I look back on it, it was amazing that my grandmother, with no more than a grade school education and no formal training, knew what to bring to everyone and how to tend to their needs. She was efficient without seeming rushed and arranged every visit in some lengthy yet unwritten schedule. There was never money exchanged for any of her services, yet I could guarantee that when cookies or candy were around that I would be showered generously with them.

I wonder if my grandmother’s counterpart lives in my neighborhood. I wonder if that spirit of selflessly taking care of another, with no expectation of reward, exists today. I hope it does. I do feel that urge from time to time as I see one of my elderly neighbors take his trash to the curb, but then he disappears back into his house and I disappear into my own world of activities and responsibilities and then I forget all about him again until trash day allows us to meet again.

Maybe it is time for me to change things up. Make a promise to myself and my grandmother to go to my neighbor’s house and check on him, see how he’s doing, see what he needs and maybe how I can help him. She’d like that. In fact, because she’s my grandma, I'm sure she’ll go with me.