How To Survive Swine Flu….

Hi All!!!

As you already know, the new buzz term in the media is ‘Swine Flu’. Technically this type of flu is called Influenza Subtype A H1N1, but what is it important for us to know about this new virus?

Basically this virus is a mutation of 4 common types of flu, the common flu, bird flu and 2 non-dangerous types of pig flu. It is believed to have originated somewhere in Asia, where it was then caught by a human and moved over to Mexico where the first outbreak was confirmed. This virus is spread from person to person, usually not from pigs despite common belief, so eating pork is totally safe as long as its cooked.

So far authorities can’t even give an estimate of how many people have contracted this virus, but they are pretty sure its over 1 million. The WHO gave an estimate that 2 billion people will get this virus before it stops being a pandemic. In fact the WHO has declared this a phase 6 pandemic! Thats the highest anything has ever been! There are no global numbers of how many people have dide from this, but if we look at the US figures, over 50000 people have been confirmed to have the virus, yet ont 353 have died. That gives you about a 99.3% survival rate. Here in South Africa there have been 700 confirmed cases, with only 2 deaths. Thats a 99.7% survival rate. So don’t panic! Although this virus is becoming unstoppable and widespread, your odds of death are very low and will be even lower if you follow a few simple steps:

• Use tissues to cover your nose and mouth when you sneeze or cough and throw them away afterwards.
• Wash your hands regularly with soap and warm water. Don’t just use alcohol based hand cleaners, alcohol cannot kill viruses. You need to was them off, not try to kill them.
• Stay away from people with flu-like symptoms, and likewise if you think you have the flu, stay away from work, school, scouts, etc. until a doctor has seen you.
• Read these camping guidelines: CLICK HERE!

Don’t panic! Swine flu is far from the most dangerous virus out there! The CDC released the following statement: “20000 people die from swine flue and everybody is rushing to wear a face mask, but 9 million people die from AIDS and they still won’t wear a condom.”

CPR For Dummies

Howdi Y’all!

Most of us know some basic first aid, and some of us have the advantage of having attended a lifesaving course or being a member of the Scout Movement where we get alot of training about various emergency situations. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending how you look at it) almost none of us have had to deal with a first aid situation where somebodies life is in danger, and even the most level-headed person with all the training can panic when this happens. Lucky, the current CPR guidelines take this into account so here they are:

Firstly in any situation you need to go through the steps commonly referred to as HHHABC. This stands for: Hazards, Hello, Help, Airway, Breathing, Circulation. I’m not going to explain all these steps, but you can find the full description at http://www.health24.com/child/First_aid/833-848,30225.asp. Once you have covered these steps and have found that the patient is not breathing AND has no pulse, it is time for CPR.

Look at the way the hands are gripped.

Start off by placing the heal of your left hand (or right if you are left handed) on the breastbone of the patient so that you are kneeling alongside him/her and your hand rests on the nipple-line. Then grip this hand with the other so that your fingers are interlinked. Remember you strong hand needs to be on top as this is the hand which applies most of the pressure.

The correct way of doing compressions is to keep both arms rigid and use your body weight to compress the patients chest. You can to this by bending your waist and legs to move yourself up and down. This way you can press harder and also save energy, which is important as you may be doing this for a while. Also remember that you can NEVER press too hard, but you can be to gentle, so always push as hard as possible.

The American Heart Association (AHA) have found that most people panic because they are scared of making a mistake with CPR. The new guidelines state that if you don’t know the correct compression to breath ratio, just keep compressing and don’t bother with breaths until help arrives. Remember, there is still enough oxygen in the patients blood to keep them alive for some time, the important thing is to keep the blood flowing.

If you find that you are more level-headed and want to try breathing as well, the correct ratio is 30 compressions and 2 breaths (30:2). The rate of the compressions should be at about 100 per minute, this way if you include the pauses for breathing it roughly emulates a healthy heartbeat.

Practice makes perfect!

A good way to keep this rate of compression perfectly is to hum the tune of ‘Stayin’ Alive’ by the Bee Gees and doing your compressions to the beat, which has a tempo rate of 103BpM. The University of Illinois has found that first aiders doing this have a higher success rate when doing CPR.

Now all the above information aside, remember the most important factor is YOU. The worst thing you can do is nothing. If nobody helps the patient, he/she WILL DIE. But even imperfect CPR gives them a chance. So if the situation arises where you can try saving a life, don’t be a bystander.