Thanks, that's good to know. I need to find out if they do there course in my area. I'm a tad out on CPR cert and with the new protocols I guess it's time to get it done. Cheaper is always fine with me.

Rajmit.... oh never mind, talking to you makes as much sense as a soup sandwich.

Thanks again Reno.

Thanks, that's good to know. I need to find out if they do there course in my area. I'm a tad out on CPR cert and with the new protocols I guess it's time to get it done. Cheaper is always fine with me.

Rajmit.... oh never mind, talking to you makes as much sense as a soup sandwich.

Thanks again Reno.

Yeah, now's a good time, because the AHA just revamped all its recommendations for obstructed airway procedures (i.e. choking victim goes unconscious) and there are a couple other differences (it's 30/2 @ 5x/minute now). I had to renew my AHA a couple months ago.

You might want to check and make sure AHSI has adopted the new standards.

Every 2 minutes, and for the future there's talk of going all compressions and no breaths.

Word on the street is that Pisgah National Forest (home to Looking Glass Rock, Cedar Rock and many other smaller crags) will begin requiring all guides and group instructors, be they assistants or leaders, to carry AMGA Single Pitch certification at a minimum -- beginning in 2009. To my knowledge this is the most stringent requirement to date in the US, and it will affect hundreds of people, since the above areas are virtually overrun with camp groups all summer long.

Every 2 minutes, and for the future there's talk of going all compressions and no breaths.

Are you sure about that???

Updated 911 procedures for completely untrained people is compressions and no rescue breaths, b/c studies have shown that untrained bystanders responding to a victim cannot be properly explained over the phone by 911 operator on how to perform breaths. Plus, studies have also shown that a bystander is much more likely to administer CPR if breaths are not involved, b/c they are freaked out about putting their mouth on a stranger's mouth. "Its better than nothing" is the main driver behind this philosophy.

For trained personnel (including just the one-day CPR training), the procedure still includes rescue breaths. I haven't heard any talk about that changing. But I would be interested in hearing if you know differently.

The reason for this, is that a person with the one-day CPR training is fairly likely to administer breaths properly. Yes, there is oxygen in your bloodstream when you have a heart attack (the reason why compressions w. no breaths works) , but only about 10 minutes worth. After that, you would just be pumping de-oxygenated blood around the victims body (which is useless). Its every bit likely (even in the city) that emergency services will not respond in 10 minutes, so thats why they are still teaching rescue breaths.

I understand that breaking the rhythm of the compressions is another reason why rescue breaths turn out to be less effective than previously thought. I also know there is a high-profile medical doctor in Arizona that is a proponent of the "no-compression" philosophy, and has been changing the standard in Arizona.

But I still don't see a point in pumping blood around the victims body, when there is no oxygen in the blood anymore.

My AHA instructor stated there is lots of misinformation going around about "no compressions", thanks to the media. He said that one "AHA expert" that has been repeatedly quoted as being a proponent of "no compression" does not even work for the AHA anymore, and hasn't for years.

In a major change, the American Heart Association said Monday that hands-only CPR — rapid, deep presses on the victim’s chest until help arrives — works just as well as standard CPR for sudden cardiac arrest in adults.

This action should be taken only for adults who unexpectedly collapse, stop breathing and are unresponsive. The odds are that the person is having cardiac arrest — the heart suddenly stops — which can occur after a heart attack or be caused by other heart problems. In such a case, the victim still has ample air in the lungs and blood and compressions keep blood flowing to the brain, heart and other organs.

A child who collapses is more likely to primarily have breathing problems — and in that case, mouth-to-mouth breathing should be used. That also applies to adults who suffer lack of oxygen from a near-drowning, drug overdose, or carbon monoxide poisoning. In these cases, people need mouth-to-mouth to get air into their lungs and bloodstream.

My hospital accepted the CPR cert from my WMA WFR course. which is fantastic, cause it's the only CPR cert I know of that is good for 3 years.

hmmm, that could be interesting. So does this mean everyone belaying would have to have an SPI? or just the leaders? I'd bet that the camps have probably 1 certified person now to set the anchors and manage the site, however if everybody who is holding a rope has to have an AMGA cert, the crowds probably won't be very bad in 2009.