As a part of Campus Safety Awareness Week, emergency responders were on call today at the MSC to train students in hands-only CPR.
While CPR certification was not offered, Eric Johnson, public administration graduate student and an emergency responder, said knowing CPR basics could allow you to provide critical care until professionals arrive at a scene.
“The average national response time is about eight minutes for EMS to get to the scene,” Johnson said. “Those eight minutes are very vital for someone to be circulating the blood until first responders get there to perform more advanced procedures.”
Several emergency responders set up stations, complete with rubber torsos, in the MSC 12th Man Hall and by Rudder Fountain. Students were free to learn what it takes to save a life.
“[Students] are going to learn the very basics of CPR,” Johnson said. “We’re not certifying anyone today, but they are going to know how to properly do chest compressions in order to be effective until an ambulance or EMTs arrive.”
Basic CPR consists of first identifying if the person in question needs assistance. If they are in fact in a medical emergency, Austin Flowers, Class of 2011 and EMT basic, said a student should immediately call 911 and then start chest compressions.
“A lot of people get confused between compressions, breaths and the AED,” Flowers said. “The best thing you can possibly do is to give compressions.”
Flowers said chest compressions should be hard enough to compress the chest about two inches, and should be fast enough to reach 100 beats per minute.
“We have two songs for keeping compressions fast enough: ‘Another One Bites the Dust,’ and ‘Staying Alive,'” Flowers said. “Your hands should be placed in the center of the chest between the nipple line, or in the center of the sternum.”
Gabriel Duran, junior kinesiology major and emergency responder, said educating students in CPR techniques contributes to overall public safety in crowded places such as Kyle Field.
“[The importance of knowing CPR] is public safety,” Duran said. “It’s really nice for people to be aware and know how to correctly perform CPR because it’s a really simple and easy way to save a person’s life.”