Life-Saving Lessons

After four long summers spent sitting in a lifeguard chair, scanning wave pools, administering swim tests, and catching kids as they rocketed down water slides (and making a few rescues along the way!), I should be pretty comfortable with lifesaving procedures. But I know for sure that if one of my babies was choking, unconscious, or unresponsive, all those years of CPR drills would fly out the window.

Which is why we jumped at the chance to get a refresher from our friend Mark, who packed up the necessary gear from his firehouse in Moraga, and gave a super professional tutorial to a bunch of his former fraternity brothers and their wives on Saturday night (it goes without saying that times have definitely changed). Despite the fact that his "students" were busy chasing around eight children under the age of three, we all came away with some crucial information:

• In an emergency, always call 911 from a land line if you can. The dispatcher will automatically know where you are, and can send help immediately, whereas with a cell phone, you may lose critical minutes trying to describe exactly where help is needed.
• Despite what you may have learned from past CPR courses, the current wisdom is that you administer 2 breaths and 30 chest compressions in each round of CPR, for both babies and adults.
• For a choking baby, clearing the airway can be as simple as laying the baby face-down on your forearm, pointing her head at the floor, and thumping her back with the heel of your hand.

After a friend's daughter choked on an apple peel a couple of weeks ago, we realized just how vulnerable all our kids are. She was breathing again by the time the fire trucks arrived at the house, but if her mom had been better armed with emergency skills, she may have felt (slightly) less panicky.

Check out http://www.americanheart.org/ for more info on CPR -- there's even an iPhone app for the ultra-hip! :)