Despite the trappings of modern convenience that surround us, we are still essentially the same as the earliest human beings. We need food, shelter and protection from the elements, but we also have a responsibility to help each other.
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When Mark Enness was learning CPR during workplace training he probably never thought he’d be using it on his little girl, but years later it was the very thing that kept her alive.
Three to six minutes was all it would have taken before Abbiey suffered irreversible brain damage from a lack of oxygen. A few minutes more and there would have been no chance of bringing her back at all.
See, despite our 21st Century lives, the human body is still as vulnerable as it was thousands of years ago. Even though we’ve got emergency services and ambulances and hospitals, the human body still can’t last long enough for any of them to make a lick of difference unless you’re standing out the front of an emergency room.
The Enness family went to the ambulance station to thank the paramedics who arrived to take Abbiey to hospital, but those same paramedics credited her life to Mr Enness. CPR, they said, made all the difference in her young life.
Some of Griffith’s residents will have done first aid training, probably at work. However, it’s important everyone take the time to learn some basic life saving techniques, especially in an area where medical help might not arrive in time.
NSW Ambulance encourages everyone to take a first aid course and learn CPR through an accredited provider. Paul O’Brien, one of the paramedics who attended to Abbiey, said the most important step people can take is to call Triple-0 and start performing CPR immediately.
Every second without intervention counts and early CPR can make the difference between life and death. Less than 10 per cent of people will survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, with most of those living because people on scene provided effective CPR in the critical minutes before paramedics arrived.
Most basic first aid courses don’t take long, maybe a day or two at most, nor are they expensive. But that small investment could mean the difference between a loved one living and dying. You could keep them alive long enough to get the help they need, like Mr Enness did.
-STEPHEN MUDD
Stephen Mudd
Stephen Mudd is a journalist for Fairfax Media west of the great divide. He loves music, dogs and travel.
Stephen Mudd is a journalist for Fairfax Media west of the great divide. He loves music, dogs and travel.
