Kissing The Dummy

It was a few degrees under zero when I started the car at 5:30am this morning. And of course still very dark. Cruising down to the border I was wondering whether the CBP-officer would be napping in his/her cubicle. She was not!  The red light changed to green as soon as I rolled to a stop at the lower end of the bridge. She did not recognize me as I was seated in the Buick, so she asked where I was living. I had 2.5hrs of driving ahead of me, before I could sit down in the First Aid Course I was booked in on. Since it was Saturday, traffic hadn’t awakened yet. And this time there was no fog either. 2 other course participants were meeting up, making this a 3-people + instructor meeting. 3 others who were booked in were a no-show. We were about to spend the entire day together so we had to introduce ourselves to each other. After the first couple of hours the instructor brought in 3 baby-dummies which we should perform various CPR-procedures on. Scenario was baby is choking – what to do?  The babies were just the beginning as there were three “adults” waiting for us  on the floor of the outer office.  It’s always a moment of truth when the course participants have to “kiss” the dummies and depress chests until the fingers turn blue. These dummies are quite modern creations. They are equipped with lights on the lower body. Not satisfactory performance of the First-Aider is shown with a red light, 1 green light signals there is hope, but only 2 green lights are the desired result. It’s about 40 years ago I had my last First Aid Course, and let me say that many things have changed. The only thing that has not changed is the stabile side position which ascertains that the “victim” does not choke on vomit. Sorry….there are such “uncomfortable” terms to be dealt with. Tomorrow we will learn more about how to treat potential emergencies. And towards the end of the day we write an exam. Cross fingers!