A glimpse into the work behind saving lives

2012.0821.dist5fieldday

Members of the media are joined by firefighters, EMTs and paramedics in an attempt to "resuscitate" a plastic dummy.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Emergency responders from Napavine, Chehalis and Winlock took time on Tuesday to help local media better understand their work with a “field day” where rookies got to handle a fire hose and revive a dummy in cardiac arrest.

Members of Lewis County Fire District 6 shared some of what they do with reporters at a donated vacant house on Bishop Road in Chehalis.

Personnel have been using the structure for training this month and expect to have it awhile longer before it gets torn down, according to District 6 Chief Tim Kinder.

At Lewis County District 5’s main station in Napavine, Chief Eric Linn spoke about the time commitment volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians make.

“These are your neighbors,” Linn said as he introduced some of them, such as a nurse, a retired engineer, a floor supervisor at a casino.

It takes a minimum of 130 hours of training to become a firefighter and then at least that many to work as an EMT, according to Linn.

At his department, they train for three to four hours every week. Each member also is scheduled for periodic 24-hour shifts.

Live95 radio’s Cathy V. and Stephanie Schendel of The Chronicle got to save the life of a plastic dummy.

The two women did the chest compression portion of CPR to a pretend victim until volunteers and full-time staff from Districts 5, 15 and Lewis County Medic One arrived to take over. And then the pair resumed during a short ride in the back of an ambulance.

Paramedic Steve Kattenbraker explained how 100 compressions per minute can be achieved if one keeps beat to the Bee Gees disco hit “Stayin’ Alive“.

“Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen has the right rhythm as well, but they don’t do that out loud.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012 at 8:08 pm and is filed under Top story of the day. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “A glimpse into the work behind saving lives”

  1. Richard C says:
    Thursday, August 23, 2012 at 9:30 am

    There is just something not quite right about doing CPR to the beat of “another one bites the dust” Sort of reminds me of that Snickers commercial a few years back.