CPR, Videos and New Team Members By Susette A. C.

It’s a whole new ball park in Biomedical Engineering. Ah yes, new team members and a new project to tackle on. Well, not a completely new project, Comfort4U has decided to take on a different aspect of the seat cover and we’ve chosen to focus on the marketing aspect of it. In the first day of class, after returning from winter break we were given six different options regarding our future in Biomedical Engineering. After receiving positive criticism from the panel of judges during presentations, Comfort4U has decided that we will continue to elaborate our knowledge on seat covers, but we have hired another group to build and prototype our product. Mother do Matter, have accepted to be our “techs” and they are willing to prototype our product and test it. Kaiyla and Deanna have also asked to join our cause and they will be doing the researching behind our seat cover, they will research more in depth the biomedical aspects of our seat cover to have better chances of building a successful seat cover. I’m excited to see what’s in store for Comfort4U and our new partners! Hopefully everything goes well and the public will love our design!

CPR. Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation. All around the Texas area high school seniors are required to learn CPR which I completely agree with. CPR is extremely important because it can save someone’s life. These past two weeks we have been learning CPR with the help of videos created by the American Heart Association as well as some lovely instructors. We learned that there are different ways to give CPR to a baby versus a child versus an adult. Although the techniques are different they are crucial to the survival of the individual.

These are the two main motions that must be given to an adult during CPR:

To the left is a perfect representation of what a proper compression must look like. When giving CPR, the person performing CPR must check for these things:

1. Check that the area is safe and clear

2. Call for help to someone nearby, instruct them to call 911 and to retrieve the AED unit. (When calling someone, the person must make sure to clearly articulate items that the person they are asking for help is wearing)

3. Tap the person who is unconscious in the shoulders and ask them, “hey, hey, are you okay? are you okay? If they do not respond, the person who is performing CPR must remove all clothes in the way and get into the proper position to give CPR. Ideally 30 compressions must be given at the rate of 100 compressions per minute.

After the compressions, as you can see on the image to the right, the person performing CPR must blow hard twice in the person’s mouth. Before doing this step, the person must tilt the unconscious individual’s head back so the person giving CPR is able to open the individual’s airways that will allow him/her to breathe.

This must be repeated until the person you asked for help returns with the AED kit, once it arrives, no matter what you’re doing, you drop it and you connect it onto the person and the unit will inform you if the person needs shocks. If they do you and any other people surrounding the unconscious individual must step back.

In order to successfully perform CPR, individuals must remain calm and collected. (Warning: Cracking of ribs may occur during compressions, but it’s okay you wont get charged with hurting the individual, it’s better to have cracked ribs then be dead)

All in all, CPR is a very important skill for a person to know and it’s better to be prepared for the worse then not be prepared at all. Hopefully this semester in Biomedical Engineering is a sucess and all goes well!