Summer is over and fall is slowly creeping in… Schedules and routines change, new caregivers and teachers enter the picture and concerns for our children’s safety are always on our minds. Be diligent in the process and CPR Choice has a few tips to help the summer to fall transition be a smooth one!

1. Prepare your household for upcoming changes- early mornings, homework, extra traffic, new bed times are all adjustments that need to be made in order to have a healthy, productive day for everyone in your household. P-L-A-N is another four letter word that is crucial for success when attempting a new routine. Save time by preparing items before bedtime to save time in the morning. For example- laying out clothes for the next day, packing lunches and backpacks and put them in a central location for easy access, prep YOUR meals and set the coffee maker up so you have your dose of caffeine to get you rolling too!
2. Be engaged- let your child and the school staff know you will be an involved caregiver! We use the term caregiver because we recognize that a lot of families may not fit a traditional mold of Mom and Dad and we know that love comes in all forms. Building a relationship with your child’s teacher and school staff will foster good relationship skills for your child and help ease the anxiety of a new teacher and new surroundings. Also being involved and this can come in many forms including volunteering in the classroom or a field trip and also monitoring homework and progress your child is making day-to-day.
3. Safeguard your child during the day- is the school or after school day care equipped to manage a medical emergency? Is there an AED present and accessible? Does the staff know Pediatric CPR and can they perform it until additional emergency medical staff arrive? These are questions you should be asking if you are placing someone in the care of another – regardless if they are your children, parents or any other loved one.

CPR Choice can help you manage this step and we offer group classes on site! CPR Choice offers Pediatric & Adult Heartsaver CPR/AED & First Aid Training. Our Pediatric Heartsaver CPR/AED & First Aid Training provides childcare workers with the knowledge to respond to and manage illness and injuries to a child and/or infant in the fires few minutes before the emergency medical team arrives. It covers first aid skills such as finding the problem, stopping bleeding, bandaging and using an Epinephrine pen, as well as child CPR AED, infant CPR and optional modules in adult CPR AED, child mask, infant mask and Asthma Care Training for Child Care Providers.

We teach CPR & First Aid for daycares, private schools, gyms, churches, and childcare providers. Please contact us via email info@cprchoice.com or phone 865-548-1500 for more info.

In early 2016 the American Heart Association (AHA) rolled out new cards to indicate that students had taken the most recent guidelines that were introduced in 2015. The new cards are white and each disciple is differentiated through a colored stripe on the top of the card; BLS & Heartsaver (blue), ACLS (red), PALS & PEARS (purple). Also all cards should be copyright © 2015. Additional changes included microprint and highlighted personalization. The cards now have highlighted areas for name, issue date and renewal date. Tampering with these areas will alter the appearance of the card.

One major difference is the BLS provider card. The new 2015 BLS provider course replaces the BLS for Healthcare providers and BLS for pre-hospital provider courses. The new BLS course teaches both single rescuer and team BLS skills for providers within the hospital setting and those providing care out of the hospital. The new card simply states BLS Provider and the words Healthcare Provider have been removed.

Please review the official AHA card reference guide found here for questions and quality assurance.

Every five years the American Heart Association does a major overhaul on their Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC) guidelines. During these updates they share the latest science and discovery and make changes to the way we teach CPR classes. The latest update now includes new content such as team dynamics and administration of Naloxone.

The 2015 Guidelines Update for Healthcare providers adds a new perspective on systems of care, differentiating how providers handle in hospital cardiac arrests (IHCAs) from out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs). The AHA now provides a different chain of survival dependent on where the cardiac arrest takes place. The BLS provider class now has two curriculums; one focused on pre-hospital care providers such as firefighters, EMTs, paramedics and off duty providers and in-hospital teams made up of physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and code teams.

Other key changes to the curriculum include emphasis on chest compressions, chest compression rate and depth. Below are the new guidelines taken from the HIGHLIGHTS of the 2015 American Heart Association Guidelines Update for CPR and ECC.

Emphasis on Chest Compressions

Untrained lay rescuers should provide compression-only (Hands-Only) CPR, with or without dispatcher guidance, for adult victims of cardiac arrest. The rescuer should continue compression-only CPR until the arrival of an AED or rescuers with additional training. All lay rescuers should, at a minimum, provide chest compressions for victims of cardiac arrest. In addition, if the trained lay rescuer is able to perform rescue breaths, he or she should add rescue breaths in a ratio of 30 compressions to 2 breaths. The rescuer should continue CPR until an AED arrives and is ready for use, EMS providers take over care of the victim, or the victim starts to move.

Chest Compression Rate

In adult victims of cardiac arrest, it isreasonable for rescuers to perform chest compressions at a rate of 100 to 120/min. The number of chest compressions delivered per minute during CPR is an important determinant of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) and survival with good neurologic function. The actual number of chest compressions delivered per minute is determined by the rate of chest compressions and the number and duration of interruptions in

Chest Compression Depth

During manual CPR, rescuers should perform chest compressions to a depth of at least 2 inches (5 cm) for an average adult, while avoiding excessive chest compression depths (greater than 2.4 inches [6 cm]). Compressions create blood flow primarily by increasing intrathoracic pressure and directly compressing the heart, which in turn results in critical blood flow and oxygen delivery to the heart and brain. Rescuers often do not compress the chest deeply enough despite the recommendation to “push hard.” While a compression depth of at least 2 inches (5 cm) is recommended, the 2015 Guidelines Update incorporates new evidence about the potential for an upper threshold of compression depth (greater than 2.4 inches [6 cm]), beyond which complications may occur. Compression depth may be difficult to judge without use of feedback devices, and identification of upper limits of compression depth may be challenging. It is important for rescuers to know that the recommendation about the upper limit of compression depth is based on 1 very small study that reported an association between excessive compression depth and injuries that were not life-threatening. Most monitoring via CPR feedback devices suggests that compressions are more often too shallow than they are too deep.