Some professions automatically come with opportunities to physically save lives. Think doctors, nurses, EMTs. That sacred ability is also inherent in welders, bartenders, factory workers and students. Emergency medical professionals in Sioux Falls are reaching out to everyone, equipping people with the basic tools to save lives.
When soon-to-be sixth grader Nicholas Galvin stops by the mall with his mom, he walks out with a lot more than a few shopping bags.
“She had this machine, and I opened it up and she told me how to use it and it was, like, shock pads that you put on to the person and it shocked him,” Galvin says. “And then to hand press, you go like this, and you push down on the chest about two inches.”
Galvin is only eleven years old, but he’s just learned two simple strategies that could help him save a life. It happens on a shopping trip when something unique catches his eye.
“I saw these, like, human half-body people, and I was like, what’s going on?” Galvin says.
“Yeah, they put us up on a stage/platform type of thing, and we have about, I think there’s about nine mannequins out there,” Kelly Grogan with Sioux Falls Fire Rescue says. “And what we’re hoping is that people will come up and just learn how to do hands-only CPR. Then once they just show us that a little bit and demonstrate, then they learn about the AED, the shocker thing, and we talk to them about the Pulsepoint App. So, it’s pretty simple. You don’t have to do very much, but we’re trying to make an awareness. That’s what you need to do.”
Read the full post by Kealey Bultena on South Dakota Public Broadcasting.
