You are walking down the street and you see someone lying on the sidewalk. What are you doing? If she has stopped breathing or her lips and nails are turning blue, she needs immediate help. The best thing to do is to give artificial respiration until help arrives. Seconds can also be important. Start helping the victim immediately, any delay could mean death.
Steps
Step 1. Keep calm and lightly touch the victim's shoulder
Ask her if everything is okay and wait for the answer.
- If she can answer, ask her if she feels okay. If the answer is "Yes", ask her if she wants help getting up.
- If the answer is "No", call 911 (or the local emergency number) or take the victim to the hospital.
Step 2. If he doesn't answer, call or yell for someone else to call an emergency number
Check the victim's airways and pulse, start emergency artificial respiration:
- Keep your hand firmly in place, gently tilt the victim's head back and lift their chin slightly. So you open your airways. Keep your face on his, looking at his chest. See if your ribcage goes up and down (it should). Listen and check if you feel the breath; if you hear it or perceive even just a breeze on your ear, it means that it is breathing.
- Put your index and middle fingers on the sides of your throat, don't press too hard, to feel the beat on the side of your neck closest to you. You should feel the blood pumping through your veins.
Step 3. If you can't feel your breath:
- Pinch the victim's nose and lift their chin. Place your mouth on his, sealing your lips. Blow slowly but firmly, take one breath every five seconds if it's an adult, one breath every three seconds if it's a child. See if the chest rises when you blow the air into his lungs. If it doesn't expand, change your head position and try again.
- Wait 5-10 seconds, then check your breathing again.
- Continue until you see the patient breathe on their own again or until help arrives.
Step 4. Don't walk away
Paramedics may need to ask you questions about the victim.
Advice
- If you don't know how to check for heartbeat, try practicing on yourself or your friends. The pulse should be felt only on one side of the cartilage in the neck (Adam's apple in humans).
- If the victim starts vomiting, turn their head to the side. When finished, clean up and continue artificial respiration if necessary.
- If you feel insecure in any of these steps, you may want to take first aid or CPR classes. Check with the red cross or rescue service in your area, as they usually know when and where the courses take place.
Warnings
- Always call for help before starting artificial respiration!
- Providing artificial respiration exposes both you and the victim to the risk of infectious diseases. For this reason, some people choose to always carry emergency masks with them. They are quite small and can hang on a keychain.
- Always make sure your hands are clean before touching or helping the victim.
