People collapse for various reasons including heart beats, seizures and other heart problems. Low sugar, anaemia and problems with the nervous system can also cut short the flow of oxygen to the brain which causes fainting. But what should you do when someone suddenly collapses in front of you? Dr Lynn Thomas, Medical Director for St John Ambulance told The Sun, the one thing you should avoid doing is walking away. Now, read on to learn the three things you ought to do in such situations.
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Check for response
According to Dr Thomas, you should check to see if the collapsed person is responsive. To do this, gently push them on the shoulder and ask if they can hear you. If you don’t get a response but notice they are having difficulty breathing, it could be that they are in cardiac arrest. In that case, she advises that you start chest compressions on them immediately.
If they don't respond but are breathing normally, then you need to turn them into the recovery position, which is a way of turning somebody onto their side to help keep the airway open.
Call for help
Before that though, you should call for help by dialling 999 and putting your phone on speaker. Call handlers will direct you on what to do.
Keep doing chest compressions, you need to do them at about 100 a minute. I always say to do it to the beat of Staying Alive or Baby Shark apparently works too. Do not do rescue breaths.
Be ready
Dr Thomas assures that anything you do to help the collapsed person will be helpful, but it would be even better if you knew what to do in advance. For starters, you can visit the St John Ambulance website where there's a lot of really helpful YouTube videos that you can watch.
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