Learn How to Respond in an Emergency

Oct 26, 2023

In an emergency, every minute counts. Knowing how to respond in a medical or mental health crisis can help keep you and your loved ones safe.

Here are a few trainings you can take to master the basics.

Hands-only CPR

You probably already know that learning to provide CPR can help you save the life of someone in cardiac arrest.

What you may not realize is that if you encounter a person who needs CPR, it’s most likely to be someone you love.

More than 70 percent of cardiac arrests — when the heart suddenly stops pumping — that occur outside a hospital happen at home.

Want to be prepared? Adventist Health Sonora’s Resuscitate 108 program provides free trainings on hands-only CPR. Performed immediately, CPR can double to triple a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival.

Email Resuscitate108@gmail.com to schedule a training session for your group or business.

Using an AED

Thanks to the popularity of police procedurals and medical dramas, there’s a good chance you’ve seen portrayals of emergency workers using automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, to revive cardiac arrest victims.

An AED is the only way to restore a regular heart rhythm in such cases, and during a cardiac event, every moment counts. In fact, each minute that defibrillation is delayed reduces someone's chances of survival by 10%. The average response time for emergency workers, meanwhile, ranges from 8 minutes in Sonora to 13 minutes in the Tuolumne County suburbs and more than half an hour in more rural and remote areas.

The American Red Cross offers AED certification in convenient online classes – search for a class that works for you on their website.

Help for Mental Health Crises

Sometimes first aid isn’t a bandage or CPR – sometimes it is providing support to someone who is struggling with their mental health.

All of us can assist loved ones, coworkers and neighbors experiencing mental health challenges. In collaboration with YES Partnership, Adventist Health Sonora is offering free Mental Health First Aid trainings, which teach participants to:

Recognize common signs and symptoms of mental health challenges.
Recognize common signs and symptoms of substance use challenges.
Understand how to interact with a person in crisis.
Know how to connect a person with help.
Use self-care tools and techniques.

Visit YesPartnership.net/MHFA to learn more and enroll in an upcoming training.