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What is a Cardiac Arrest? Could you help someone? Find out.
In light of the recent incident involving Christian Eriksen. DAC Education wishes him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back on the pitch soon. We also wish to show our support to the medics who did a great job.
What is a Heart attack?
People have contacted us asking us about First Aid and in particularly Cardiac arrest First Aid. To help, here is a quick overview and explanation of Heart Attacks and Sudden Cardiac Arrest.
A heart attack is when the heart is in major trauma, this is caused by the heart being starved of blood and therefore oxygen, due to a blockage or restrictions within the blood vessels surrounding the heart. This can lead to a cardiac arrest, one of the most common causes of death in adults in the UK. But heart problems affect children as well as adults.
A blockage or restriction is normally caused by the closing of the blood vessels around or near to the heart. This can be caused by a thrombus formation, commonly known as a blood clot in the blood vessels. Or Atherosclerotic plaque building causing a narrowing of the blood vessels restricting blood flow.
Heart attacks are very serious, and could lead to the heart arresting at any time, known as a Cardiac Arrest. There are around 125,000 people who suffer heart attacks every year in the UK. A big problem with heart attacks is that the patient will often not accept they are having a heart attack, and delay seeking treatment. As they don’t believe or do not understand what's happening to them, often they just blame it on indigestion.
Common Signs and Symptoms of a Heart attack are:
- Pain in chest which is worsening.
- Pain in arm usually the left
- Pain in Jaw and neck
- Shortness of breath
- Pale grey and sweaty skin
- Vomit or nausea
- Extreme fright, denial and fear
First Aid Treatment for a Heart Attack
- Sit them down on the floor, back against the wall, knees up, bum 6-8 inches away from the wall. The "W" position
- Activate the emergency medical services.
- Calm and reassure, try to get them to slow their breathing.
- Get the nearest Automated External Defibrillator (AED) to you.
- If they fall unconscious, then open the AED, turn it on and do as it tells you.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest
A Sudden Cardiac arrest or SCA is different from a heart attack. A heart attack often will lead to a cardiac arrest. Whereas a SCA misses the heart attack part and goes straight into Ventricular fibrillation (VF). This is likely what Christian Eriksen experienced.
VF is where the heart spasms, quivers, leading to a lack of pulse and therefore ineffective “pumping”. Breathing will stop and the casualty will lose consciousness.
There are around 75,000 deaths due to sudden cardiac arrest in the UK every year. Survival rate out of hospital is about 10%. But in the right setting with the right equipment, and the correct training the chances get better.
If a casualty has an AED applied and shocked within 1 minute then there is a 80% chance that an AED will restart the heart into a normal rhythm. At 4 minutes there is 60% chance, at 7 minutes 20% and at 10 minutes virtually 0% chance. The fast actions from the Medics at pitch side most certainly saved his life.
Using an AED
A public use AED is designed to be used by anyone. All of them have simple voice instructions and pictures to guide you through the process of applying them to an individual. Most are semi-automatic and will tell you to press a button to shock the casualty. An AED will not shock a casualty if they do not need to be shocked.
Do you know where your nearest AED is?
What First Aid training do you need?
Your first aid provision will be dictated by your first aid needs assessment which will be completed as part of your risk assessments but....
Do you need the training to understand CPR, AEDs and other conditions in your work place? Do you need to have the correct equipment? Or do you need help to work out a First Aid needs assessment?
DAC Education Ltd can provide a First Aid solution and training so that your sports club, office staff or school don’t have to worry about the what if.
A quick story time from the weekend about why having a trained first aider in a group is a great idea. This weekend one of our instructors was out in the Suffolk countryside with a mixed group of friends and strangers. As they began their walk, they hadn’t made it more than a couple of paces when one of the older gentlemen in the group went sheet white, became weak, collapsed on the ground and started vomiting. The gentleman's son was with him, caught him as he fell and called out for help. Thankfully, our instructor was within shouting distance and was the only trained first aider in the group, in fact he is a community first responder, so he had with him in his truck an oxygen tank, defibrillator and every piece of kit a first responder would need. He quickly got the gentlemen assessed taking his heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar and asked him about any past medical conditions that may be relevant. He did an assessment, used his training to ascertain whether an ambulance was needed or whether the kit he had with him was sufficient. Thankfully, an ambulance wasn’t needed but the gentleman was taken home and is feeling much better. It made us think, here in the office, that while this situation did not need an ambulance if the first aider had not been there, it would have been a scary situation for everyone because no one there really knew what to do for the best. The moral of the story is that the benefit of completing first aid training is that you never know when your skills as a trained first aider may be able to help a friend or a stranger. It is also important that anyone who has been trained in any level of first aid should carry some essential kit with them. Some useful things in a basic first aid kit would be: A couple of pairs of gloves Sterile wipes Medical tape Scissors Tweezers Gauze Resuscitation face shield Plasters Sterile bandage Triangular bandage Eye wash Emergency foil blanket Whistle (especially if you are going for walks in remote areas) Who is the best first aid training company in Suffolk? Well, this is an easy answer and here are some reasons why. Our MD is an award winning first aid instructor who has real life experience in emergency situations. We teach our Outdoor First Aid course outdoors under a parachute in the middle of Sutton Hoo Woodland. We teach all levels of first aid from basic first aid training up to the more advanced First Responder on Scene level. At the end of our higher level first aid courses in Suffolk, we use a local charity, Casualties Union, who provide actors to re-create scenarios for our learners to put into practice all their first aid training. Our instructors talk through kit requirements on all our first aid courses whether we are training you in Suffolk or at your premises, ensuring the kit is relevant to your needs. Our first aid courses are not boring! Many people dread doing a first aid course because they have a stigma of being boring and just listening to a PowerPoint presentation for six hours stuck in a classroom, being taught by someone who doesn’t actively have any real-life experience. That's not us, we get you involved, get you interacting with the equipment, pass on knowledge from real life emergencies and make it enjoyable. We offer first aid kits of varying sizes and for different requirements. Our most popular choice is a DAC mini Ouch Pouch which is the perfect pocket sized first aid kit. Is it time for you to book a first aid training course in Suffolk? Any time is a great time to complete a first aid course, and we would love to train you. Gatherings are more common at this time of year with Christmas shopping in full swing the high streets are busier, markets are full and places where crowds gather can become a hot spot for accidents, injuries or exacerbation of underlying medical conditions. We run first aid training throughout the year with open courses that anyone can join. Many of our first aid training courses are in Suffolk but we do travel nationwide as well. We would like to encourage all those who have taken a first aid course with DAC Education, or indeed, with any first aid training company in Suffolk or beyond, please do ensure that when you are out and about your skills and knowledge are not wasted and please carry with you even just a basic first aid kit. It's better to carry one and not need it, than to need it and not have one.
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Would you want to be miles from nowhere with without a first aid kit to help a struggling person?
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Trains you help while you wait for the emergency services or even realise you may not need them. Our Family First Aid is a one day Weekend First Aid course run on a saturdays.
See some of our blogs below about Mental health, First aid and much more
A quick story time from the weekend about why having a trained first aider in a group is a great idea. This weekend one of our instructors was out in the Suffolk countryside with a mixed group of friends and strangers. As they began their walk, they hadn’t made it more than a couple of paces when one of the older gentlemen in the group went sheet white, became weak, collapsed on the ground and started vomiting. The gentleman's son was with him, caught him as he fell and called out for help. Thankfully, our instructor was within shouting distance and was the only trained first aider in the group, in fact he is a community first responder, so he had with him in his truck an oxygen tank, defibrillator and every piece of kit a first responder would need. He quickly got the gentlemen assessed taking his heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar and asked him about any past medical conditions that may be relevant. He did an assessment, used his training to ascertain whether an ambulance was needed or whether the kit he had with him was sufficient. Thankfully, an ambulance wasn’t needed but the gentleman was taken home and is feeling much better. It made us think, here in the office, that while this situation did not need an ambulance if the first aider had not been there, it would have been a scary situation for everyone because no one there really knew what to do for the best. The moral of the story is that the benefit of completing first aid training is that you never know when your skills as a trained first aider may be able to help a friend or a stranger. It is also important that anyone who has been trained in any level of first aid should carry some essential kit with them. Some useful things in a basic first aid kit would be: A couple of pairs of gloves Sterile wipes Medical tape Scissors Tweezers Gauze Resuscitation face shield Plasters Sterile bandage Triangular bandage Eye wash Emergency foil blanket Whistle (especially if you are going for walks in remote areas) Who is the best first aid training company in Suffolk? Well, this is an easy answer and here are some reasons why. Our MD is an award winning first aid instructor who has real life experience in emergency situations. We teach our Outdoor First Aid course outdoors under a parachute in the middle of Sutton Hoo Woodland. We teach all levels of first aid from basic first aid training up to the more advanced First Responder on Scene level. At the end of our higher level first aid courses in Suffolk, we use a local charity, Casualties Union, who provide actors to re-create scenarios for our learners to put into practice all their first aid training. Our instructors talk through kit requirements on all our first aid courses whether we are training you in Suffolk or at your premises, ensuring the kit is relevant to your needs. Our first aid courses are not boring! Many people dread doing a first aid course because they have a stigma of being boring and just listening to a PowerPoint presentation for six hours stuck in a classroom, being taught by someone who doesn’t actively have any real-life experience. That's not us, we get you involved, get you interacting with the equipment, pass on knowledge from real life emergencies and make it enjoyable. We offer first aid kits of varying sizes and for different requirements. Our most popular choice is a DAC mini Ouch Pouch which is the perfect pocket sized first aid kit. Is it time for you to book a first aid training course in Suffolk? Any time is a great time to complete a first aid course, and we would love to train you. Gatherings are more common at this time of year with Christmas shopping in full swing the high streets are busier, markets are full and places where crowds gather can become a hot spot for accidents, injuries or exacerbation of underlying medical conditions. We run first aid training throughout the year with open courses that anyone can join. Many of our first aid training courses are in Suffolk but we do travel nationwide as well. We would like to encourage all those who have taken a first aid course with DAC Education, or indeed, with any first aid training company in Suffolk or beyond, please do ensure that when you are out and about your skills and knowledge are not wasted and please carry with you even just a basic first aid kit. It's better to carry one and not need it, than to need it and not have one.
A quick overview of what an Appointed person does
Dave Coyle our MD is Instructor of the year 2024
Martyn's law training
A 3 minute micro learn to gain knowledge about what is and how to deal with fainting. #fainting #firstaidtraining #getmeinvolved
The quickest way to assess if something is really wrong
Luanch of a new course - update Course is going well!
Would you want to be miles from nowhere with without a first aid kit to help a struggling person?
Does your company have the correct level of First Aid and H&S training required by the commissioner of a contract?
Trains you help while you wait for the emergency services or even realise you may not need them. Our Family First Aid is a one day Weekend First Aid course run on a saturdays.
It's not a nice thought but unfortunately a reality of the world we live in today is...
One company said no, DAC First Aid said Yes
Paediatric First Aid First Aid for children and infants A Paediatric First Aid course is ideal for parents, grandparents, caregivers, childminders, schools and businesses involved in childcare. As parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles or professional childminders the thought of an accident or incident occurring while looking after your own or someone else's child can be a scary thought, especially for those who may be in rural areas where the emergency services may not be as easily accessible. Paediatric first aid comes with its own challenges and a fundamental part of being human is the wish to preserve life, especially a young life. It is hard wired into us to want to do something to help. It doesn’t have to be a grand heroic act, it can be something as simple as staying calm and being the one who is able to relay the details of the situation to the emergency services. We have spoken previously about using the what3words app to enable the emergency services to get to your precise location. Even downloading this app and having instant access to those important 3 words can be a life saving act. This is especially true if you are out with children in parks or day trips away from your usual residence or nursery setting. Paediatric first aid courses are a great way to boost your confidence and knowledge. All first aid courses are full of information, techniques and skills. Physical techniques like the recovery position or how to deal with a choking incident, all the way up to mental skills. An excellent quality of a first aider is to know the importance of staying calm, how to react to bystanders who may want to help but can be a hindrance and to be able to apply any knowledge that you have previously learnt. It is not only the practical first aid skills that are important but it's knowing how to safely handle the situation and acting swiftly. A good paediatric first aid course should cover areas such as; Assessing an emergency situation Provide First AId knowledge to an infant or child eho is unresponsive and either breathing or not breathing normally. External bleeding Foreign body obstruction in the airway Burns, scalds, bites and stings Anaphylaxis Injuries to bones, joints and muscles also head or spinal injuries Those suffering from a chronic medical condition or sudden illness There are many other topics covered but perhaps the most important is the paediatric first aid course you choose should meet the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Life saving skills are often thought to only be necessary for trained professionals like doctors, nurses and emergency services but these professionals can often do more if there has been a quick assessment and reaction by a first aider on scene. We all have the ability to perform life saving acts.
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DAC Education LTD, Company number 12639015
Registered office and training centre: Unit One, Main Road, Stratford St Andrew, Suffolk, IP17 1LF