Got good Samaritan?

[busawife]

The Jeffrey Carman Family

You folks make a great team.

Thanks! Yeah, we seem to have the luck where we run across this stuff all the time! The first time was on our honeymoon...how romantic dealing with a bicycle rider who crashed hard on his bike. He bled all over Jeff and all over a new blanket and pillow we had been given as a wedding gift. (we moved from Portland to San Diego for our honeymoon) It was crazy! Jeff did most everything then, because my certification had just expired.

The second time was all on me as a guy went into a diabetic episode in the reception office where I worked. Really, no big event. Just call 911 and let the paid professionals do their job. All I really did was make sure he wasn't having a stroke or heart attack. That is easy!!!

Speaking of...how to tell if they are having a stroke:

Ask them to smile - most stroke patients cannot smile with both sides of their mouths. Doing this allows you to see what sort of face muscle function they have. If they only smile with half a mouth, or have a hard time smiling...bad sign.

Ask them to say an easy sentence like, "Today the sun is shining!" - If they are slurring their words, then you can tell with this. That is also a sign of a stroke.

Ask them to raise both arms above their head - If they can only raise one, we have a problem.

Never assume that a person is drunk or playing along. If they are acting fine one minute and then crazy the next...something isn't right. Remember with a stroke that time saved is brain saved. If you think someone is having a stroke, right down the time the symptoms started. Doctors can only give clot busters after a certain amount of time. If they don't know when symptoms started or it has been too long - they cannot give the meds. (we learned WAY more about strokes than we ever wanted to when our best friend had one at 30. Because the person called 911 and she was in the ER within 30 minutes, you cannot tell she ever had a stroke!)

As for heart attack - heavy sweating, pain in the chest radiating down the arm, problems breathing, nausea are the classic signs of a heart attack. However, these aren't all of the signs.

And remember, classes are offered by the Red Cross in the areas of first aid, CPR and Defib. I am a firm believer that everyone should take these classes!!!

PS - ****PAGE****

 

[BA BUSA]

 

[WWJD]

There is a good samaritan law in Oregon (every state is different), and any one who goes to first aid training from the Red Cross will know it. You cannot be sued if you do the following:

1) Announce that you are first aid certified (if you are) and ask for permission to assist (you must announce and ask even if the person is unconscious and unresponsive) - Let the person know you are there to help if you are not certified and ask for permission. It is VERY important that you ask to be able to help. If the person is unresponsive, and they aren't able to say yes, then it is considered life or death and you can go forward.

2) Only do what you are trained to do. If you are not certified, don't do anything. Call 911 and then let them direct you. If something bad happens, it falls on them. Give only the first aid you know. Never administer medications, unless trained to do so. And even then, it is best to not give out medication, as you often will not know the person's health history. If you are not certified in the use of a defib machine, do not attempt to use it unless instructed by 911.

3) Once paramedics, police or fire department arrive, step back and let them work unless instructed otherwise. (There are some times that if you are in a good rhythm with the CPR, the paramedics might throw you in the back of the bus with the patient and let you continue. This happened to a friend of ours who administered CPR to a patient)

As for the law that forces you to help, I am not sure that is in practice anymore. That law came into affect after quite a few first responders refused to help when they didn't know the person after MANY people had been sued. That is also when the good samaritan law came into practice. However, if you are trained, you should be willing and prepared to help at all times. Honestly, as I told Scar on the phone the other night, you will never see me without my CPR shield (unless I just had to use it, as it is a once time use deal OR I am at a formal event...hard to keep in my purse. BUT, it it is usually still in my car).

So, to answer your question Lamb, as long as it is safe for me to do so, I will step in and help in any way I can. However, I have been taught in training that if there is a danger to myself (and I mean, I would die because there are downed power lines, or something catastrophic like that), I cannot help. You have to wait for the danger to yourself to pass...because it is hard to administer first aid and CPR when you are bleeding out yourself. :-)

PS - thanks for the reminder...my CPR certification is up in January and I need to go take a class. AND, I need to get my defib cert as well!

WOWSER! Can we complicate life any further? My system is easier:

1. is someone in trouble?

2. if yes, help them

 

[Lamb busa]

Thanks busa wife. You are an inspiration. To have a CPR card and defib certificate without needing them for your job?............awesome! Thanks for caring.
..............and great job stealing the page from the pagemaster!

 

[dmrowe]

This case will certainly put a damper on people willing to give assistance in life threatening situations. Although I think the basic desire of people to help in these cases will override their fear of being sued. That being said, basic first aid tells you not to move someone critically injured unless absolutely necesary. This includes trying to remove their helmet or jerk them out of a mangled car unless you see flames or smell raw fuel. Your local Red Cross offers CPR and first aid course, I got certified years ago as part of my responsibilities as part of a reaction team at Northrop.

 

[zukracer]

Driving back to NY from NC last night, going along smoothly and actually not a ton of traffic (weird). Come out of the NJTP southern toll booth and see the jeep in front of me fish tailing... I slow down and as I'm still getting on the brakes, the jeep starts to roll over :O I hit the same patch of black ice and manage to stop short of the jeep. Hazzards on, 911 on the phone (called before I stopped moving) and over to the jeep. Fully expecting to see a full car with some injuries, I walk up and find this 20somethin girl picking up her tiny dog and staggering around the highway. Get her to the side of the road, hand her to another good samaritan that stopped and move to get the jeep turned off (engine was on, drive shaft turning). Get that done, hear more screaching tires, look up and see a little honda flying underneath a new tahoe. Run down there, check those folks to find one lady in the honda hurt everyone else shaken but ok. call 911 back tell them to send more cops, another ambulance and more folks to clear up the new wreck.

all of this happens in about 4-5mins, start to finish. Cops still havent shown up at this point, so with all the folks being tended to as needed, I start directing traffic around the wreck on the left side emergency lane. Cop shows up, kinda looks at me, says keep doing a good job and goes about tending to everyone. more cops show up, they start doing tickets, etc. I'm kinda like umm. guys, WTF I'm freezin nutz and well this aint my job, someone else needsa come direct traffic.

I wind up directing traffic around the accident, its clean up, etc for over an hour until the cop comes and says, thanks for calling it in and stuff, your statement fits what the drivers say so we dont need you. I'm like... umm.. well an hour ago you coulda told me that

The good samaritan that helped the girl who flipped her jeep... he gave her a jacket to wear and keep warm while we waited. Nice guy... she took off with it in the cop car and the cops had no info for him on how to contact her ???

So two good acts, I get a cold and the other dude looses a really nice jacket

the only good thing, the jeep driver walked away with no injuries, the folks in the tahoe that got rear ended by the idiots in the honda were shaken but ok (military family of 4, infant and 4-5yr old in the back seat) and the honda driver's wife/gf broke her arm. Coulda been MUCH worse.

Seeing that jeep flip and roll kinda put me on edge for the rest of the drive, but made it home safe at almost 5am

 

[Lamb busa]

Damn! Glad you're OK zukracer!

 

[99'busa]

ive heard something of a good samaritan law. where you cant be sued if doing a good deed. not sure where i heard it or the truth to it.

 

[BusaWizard]

I was in STL and saw a guy get run over on the hi-way, I was trying to point him out to the fast moving traffic, must've been hit by at least three cars. Needless to say he didn't make it. Come to find out he had been involved in a shooting, and was running from the Police.

 

[busawife]

Thanks busa wife. You are an inspiration. To have a CPR card and defib certificate without needing them for your job?............awesome! Thanks for caring.
..............and great job stealing the page from the pagemaster!

Sorry about that...

 

[skydivr]

Ohh, California...shoulda known....and we wonder why sometimes people just sit there and watch someone die. Shameful.