"Bright-star, Bright-star!"

[OlsSalt]

It has been a while since your most recent CPR course. The single person or lay rescuer no longer gives breaths. It was found that the delay in circulation by stopping to give breaths was more harmful than the inevitable decrease in oxygen in the blood. Also, people are less concerned about infection from mouth to mouth, so are more likely to intervene.

 

Thank you for the updating. I do recall being told a lapse of more than 4 minutes without oxygen lead to irreversible brain damage. Timing is critical.

 

Also without independent corroboration it is hard to really tell how many people actually have been saved by lay-administered "CPR" or lost due to lack of it. Especially when preformed by lay people's cartoon version of the "Breath of Life".

 

Having had to take CPR over a long period of time for professional licensing it was interesting to see the evolution of the message to the later -call for help first, bring in the professionals -- then apply your lay techniques. Confession, it has been almost 10 years since my last CPR course when A-B-C was the primary litany and before the acute infection transmission changes.

 

Yes, the last time the emphasis was on the breathing and administering 5 quick, powerful breaths before doing the alternating breathing-chest compression routine. Recusitation Annie will miss all the F2F time.

Edited April 12, 2016 by OlsSalt

[galensgrl]

As an EMT I have stopped to rendered aid to 3 passengers on cruises. My best advice to all passengers is to learn where the phones are in public areas.

 

Phone locations vary ship to ship and cruise line to cruise line. Look for them near elevator lobbies, outside of lounges or at entrances to theater, buffet, dining rooms casino, pool, spa, other area of large gatherings. Take note of how to get help, it may be your loved one who needs it.

 

We were 2 days out of LA on our way to Hawaii, so about half way. I had a woman collapse literally at my feet one evening as I was exiting the show lounge. Her head hit the hard stone-tile floor in the entranceway/exit rather hard, but she fell because her heart stopped. I immediately began an assessment and as I called loudly to my husband to call 911 for "no breathing, no pulse", a physician jumped-in to join me in CPR. Her friends told us she had a pacemaker... well I believe it was more than an ordinary pacemaker because her heart started and she actually came to! The medical team arrived and took over, yes it was Bright Star call.

 

A few days later I saw her walking around the ship and we were both thankful to run into each other. I believe her pacemaker was equipped with a defibrillator which saved her. She told me she was overnight in the infirmary for observation, released in the morning and said she felt fine!

 

The other thing that I had to do during that incident was get a bar server to re-route people around us because they were actually stepping on us. One person kicked my evening purse (it was formal night) about 20 feet away from where I had dropped it by my side to attend to the woman, and he never even made a motion to retrieve it for me. People were unbelievably uncaring and oblivious.

 

Another incident that shocked me was when a gentleman tripped and fell in a doorway between the lido buffet and the pool area. He was unconscious and had a bad cut on his head while people just stepped over and around him, no-one had called 911 when I found him. People were worse than oblivious. Just astounding.

 

Please take the time to notice where the phones are, and be willing to call for help if help is needed. If all you can do is ask someone else to call for help and then direct traffic around an injured person, that will be a huge step forward. Remember, we're all in the proverbial "same boat." m--

 

Sounds like what is called the "bystander effect," which is what happens in a crowd when someone needs help in an emergency. It's a proven human behavior when people get in a crowd, it's a totally different mentality than when people are by themselves, the crowd mentality can be so disturbing. Most everyone thinks someone else will do something about the crisis, so they disregard what is happening and go about their business, avoiding the unknowns of "what will happen if I jump in". Self preservation at it's worst moment. People who are trained to respond to emergency situations aren't as affected by the bystander effect, and they usually spring into action helping and also getting more acute assistance from medical personnel.

 

But having people trample you and kick you and your stuff was truly an extreme. That is just unthinkable, but terrible things can happen when you get a crowd of people together. Not always, but high stress situations can bring out the worst in people, I'm sure that's no surprise to anyone. I hope it's never called for, but I've learned from your stories as well. One of the first thing I'm going to do when I get on the ship next time is take us on a quick tour of the ships public areas making note of where the phones are, just in case. Hopefully this will help us be present in the moment, help when possible and definitely speak up and seek help for those in need. Also a First Aid and CPR course is a good idea. Thank you.

Edited April 12, 2016 by galensgrl

[MommaBear55]

Thank you for the updating. I do recall being told a lapse of more than 4 minutes without oxygen lead to irreversible brain damage. Timing is critical.

 

Also without independent corroboration it is hard to really tell how many people actually have been saved by lay-administered "CPR" or lost due to lack of it. Especially when preformed by lay people's cartoon version of the "Breath of Life".

 

Having had to take CPR over a long period of time for professional licensing it was interesting to see the evolution of the message to the later -call for help first, bring in the professionals -- then apply your lay techniques. Confession, it has been almost 10 years since my last CPR course when A-B-C was the primary litany and before the acute infection transmission changes.

 

Yes, the last time the emphasis was on the breathing and administering 5 quick, powerful breaths before doing the alternating breathing-chest compression routine. Recusitation Annie will miss all the F2F time.

 

And if they were to do research on CPR, I would not want to volunteer for the control group! My first CPR through the Red Cross involved lifting the arms, crossing them over the chest and then pushing. The saying then was "out with the bad air, in with the good".

 

I am still of the belief that attempting to help is better than standing by and doing nothing.

[boone2]

On our recent Antarctica cruise, there was no "Bright Star"; there was just a call for "Medical Emergency at Cabin 7XXX" just as we were about to cast off at Montevideo. Later we learned that the fellow didn't make it. I was surprised when the non-coded message came over the PA system.

 

Bright star call is no longer being used. It's "medical emergency response team"

[kevingastreich]

Speaking of using the phone, is the emergency number on the ship 911 or something else? I know different countries have their own emergency code.

 

911 goes straight to Guest Services. We had to use it once to call for help for someone drowning in the harbor. GS said they would alert the harbor patrol.

[kevingastreich]

Is that HA code? My DH says they also did an announcement "Babe Ruth, Babe Ruth! Seaview". What is that?

 

It's actually "Baby Ruth, Baby Ruth *location*. I worked maintenance for a community pool ONE summer...and that is what we called it. Everyone out of the pool, offending substances removed, heavy chlorination and muriatic treatment, 6 hours down and then back to business. Don't know the procedure on a HAL ship though. :D

[BeagleOne]

It has been a while since your most recent CPR course. The single person or lay rescuer no longer gives breaths. It was found that the delay in circulation by stopping to give breaths was more harmful than the inevitable decrease in oxygen in the blood. Also, people are less concerned about infection from mouth to mouth, so are more likely to intervene.

 

Compression-only CPR, sometimes known as CCR, is now taught for a witnessed arrest of an adult or adult-sized person, with only one rescuer available. Those victims are fully oxygenated so chest compressions will circulate the oxygenated blood and the compression action also inflates and deflates the lungs to a certain extent. Once rescuers arrive with oxygen, or even if a second person volunteers to help out, ventilation can be started.

 

The same is not true of smaller children, since the most common cause of cardiac arrest in those victims is respiratory issues. So ventilations need to be done along with compressions from the very beginning.

 

I'd encourage everyone who's physically capable of doing CPR, to take a class and keep the certification up-to-date. It doesn't take that long to learn and it could save a life.

[feathersandnananose]

Just want to say "Thanks" for the suggestion to locate the public phones on a ship. Many years ago, I was at a PTA convention with our incoming President, who was also a fire fighter. His first question when visiting our room was - "Do you know where the emergency exits are?"

 

Since then, I have ALWAYS taken the time to check all emergency exits in hotels. And now I can add looking for the public phones in the public areas of a ship.

 

We never stop learning! Thanks again.

[ksmaxey]

Ever since 9/11 there has been a strong push to use plain language and no 10 codes or other coded language to describe emergencies. What was learned was that not everyone was using the same language or codes. In the event of medical emergency a doctor or other medical professional nearby might not know to help if secret language is used.

[chengkp75]

Ever since 9/11 there has been a strong push to use plain language and no 10 codes or other coded language to describe emergencies. What was learned was that not everyone was using the same language or codes. In the event of medical emergency a doctor or other medical professional nearby might not know to help if secret language is used.

 

While this is pertinent and understandable onshore, in the closed universe of a ship at sea, this is not the case, and the crew are trained together as responders. Unless the medical professional is directly on scene, in which case they can see and determine if they need to assist, there is no need to alert others to shipboard emergencies.

[StLouisCruisers]

Bright star call is no longer being used. It's "medical emergency response team"

 

Brightstar was called twice on our 21 day Westerdam Panama Canal cruise March 12-April 2. So yes, it is still being used.

[BigGreenFan]

Brightstar was called twice on our 21 day Westerdam Panama Canal cruise March 12-April 2. So yes, it is still being used.

 

And it was called once on Konngsdam's Premiere Voyage so yes, it is still being used.