Photo: President Gordon Ward meets Mandy Hunt, with Club Members John McGlade and John McHenry (R)

Talk and Demonstration by Mandy Hunt on CPR

Club President Gordon Ward welcomed members and guests to the meeting and then introduced our speaker for the morning Ms. Mandy Hunt who works for the 'Heart Start Department' of the Northern Health Trust. Mandy then went on to explain a little about her job, show an interesting video about CPR and then give a teaching demonstration for all our members and guests to learn how to do CPR - by the way, that's 'Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation'.

A lot of Mandy's work is with local schools, and has visited over 200 in the Northern Trust area so far. People can learn CPR within half an hour, and Heart Disease is the single biggest killer in Northern Ireland. No matter what your age, it's a good idea to learn the basics of what to do in an emergency.

Mandy explained that most heart disease problems are caused by the Coronary Arteries getting 'furred up' - these vital blood delivering 'pipes' are only about as wide as the average ball point pen refill - reducing the blood flow and damaging the Heart mussel. A 'Heart Attack' swiftly follows, and in NI, there are about ten every day - one in three people don't survive the attack. However, numbers are improving, as more equipment is available in the community AND more people know what to do to help.

Mandy then took us through the six stage action plan - DRS ABC - this being:

• D - Danger (is it safe to get to the casualty? if so…)
• R - Response (is there any response from the casualty? If none…)
• S - Shout (for held/assistance, get someone to call 999 or 112 for an Ambulance. Then…)
• A - Airway (casualty on back, rest head and do chin tilt lift, now…)
• B - Breathing (check if casualty is breathing, if not, it is a cardiac arrest. Next…)
• C - CPR (start CPR with 30 to 2 ratio - that's 30 chest compresses then 2 breaths. Keep doing this until help arrives)

Using models and the some equipment especially brought along for the talk/demonstration, Mandy showed us all how to go about CPR. Unfortunately, being such a large group, it wasn't possible to give individual tuition, but we all got a good look at the technique and then ask questions on the practical problems of CPR.

(Thanks to Ken and Des for some extra photos of the talk - 'click here')

There was just time for a brief Question and Answer session which included - 'How far to press the chest down?' Five to six centimetres. 'If there is a defibrillator near by, how would you use it?' All models are designed to 'talk' to you, so you can't do anything or go further, other than the specific instruction is complete. 'What to do if someone is choking?' - Mandy explained and showed the 'slapping back' and 'abdominal thrust' methods.
A vote of thanks was proposed by Dr. John McGlade for the extremely interesting and practically useful demonstration, especially for our members age group. The thanks were passed on by the President, and the members showed their appreciation.

Mike Turner - Secretary

To find out more about the British Heart Foundation, click on this link:
http://www.bhf.org.uk
For a 'fun' training video (aimed at younger people, but well worth a watch), click on this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff_kalDZfzU
For some VERY useful information on 'Cardiac Arrest' just 'click here'
And also for some equally useful information on 'Angina' just 'click here'