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Basic Life Support to Save Lives

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Basic life support (BHD) is necessary to maintain a person’s life when experiencing a life-threatening situation or emergency. This basic life support can be provided by trained medical personnel and the general public.

Basic life support is a series of efforts to restore respiratory function or circulation in someone who has cardiac arrest, respiratory distress, respiratory arrest, or airway obstruction.

Basic Life Support to Save Lives - Alodokter

Basic life support needs to be given immediately to an unconscious and not breathing person. Because, permanent brain damage to death can occur within a period of 4-10 minutes after the oxygen supply is cut off.

How to Do Basic Life Support

Here are some basic life support you can do in an emergency:

Heimlich . maneuver

The Heimlich maneuver can be used as an emergency measure to help someone who is choking. By performing the Heimlich maneuver, the choking foreign body can be removed and the airway can be reopened.

How to perform basic life support Heimlich maneuver in adults who are choking, namely:

  • Help the choking person to stand up
  • Position your body behind the person who is choking
  • Bend the body of the person who is choking forward
  • Hit his back with your palm 5 times
  • Wrap your arms around the choking person’s waist
  • Make a fist with your thumb inward, place it just above the navel of the person who is choking, then place your other hand on top of the clenched hand.
  • Press your fist into the stomach of the person who is choking and lift it 5––10 times
  • Repeat this movement until the object blocking the airway is removed and the person can breathe or cough

If the choking person is unconscious, perform basic life support standard cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with chest compressions and rescue breaths.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)

If you see a person who is unconscious and not breathing because of choking, drowning, accident, shock, poisoning, or having a heart attack, you can provide basic life support in the form of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

The following are the steps for performing basic life support in the form of CPR or CPR:

1. Ensure surrounding safety

Make sure you and the victim are in a safe position. Do not endanger yourself or others when trying to help with basic life support.

2. Check the victim’s response

Check the victim’s response or consciousness by trying to wake him up. You can tap or squeeze the victim’s shoulder, shake her or her body, or call the victim in a loud voice, such as “Sir, Ma’am…”.

3. Call an ambulance

If the victim is unconscious or does not respond within 5 seconds, call an ambulance immediately or ask someone around you to call an ambulance.

4. Lay down the victim

Lay the victim in a supine position on a flat or level surface. If the victim is likely to have a spinal cord injury, gently lay the victim down without moving the head or neck.

5. Check the victim’s breathing

Examine the victim’s mouth and throat. Remove any obvious obstructions in the mouth or nose, such as vomit, blood, food, or teeth.

After that, lift or tilt the victim’s head slowly and lift his chin to open the airway and check if he is breathing. If the victim is not breathing after 10 seconds, start CPR.

6. Perform CPR

CPR as basic life support needs to be done in several steps. Here’s how to do it:

Compression or pressing the victim’s chest
Kneel beside the victim, place your left hand on top of your right, and place it in the center of the victim’s chest. Apply pressure 100–120 times per minute until the victim responds or an ambulance arrives.

Open the victim’s airway
If you are trained, after performing 30 chest compressions, you can open the victim’s airway by tilting your head and lifting the victim’s chin.

Giving artificial respiration
After opening the airway, give the victim two artificial respirations. Repeat the process of 30 chest compressions followed by 2 rescue breaths until an ambulance arrives or the victim is conscious.

It is imperative that basic life support be given to an unconscious and not breathing person immediately. Therefore, it never hurts to equip yourself by learning how to perform the Heimlich maneuver and CPR.

These skills can be useful in saving people’s lives when you are faced with an emergency situation before getting further help from a doctor.

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