Local Teachers run for a Cause

            Curing the diseases that can cripple the members of our society has been on the minds and in the steps of some of our mentors. Recently Mr. Church, Mrs. Furgeson, Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Penski, and Mr. Zubal found causes in which they feel very passionately about and found different ways to help the causes.

                Each mentor had their reasons for choosing the foundation that they endorsed.

In Toledo, Ohio on October 2^nd Church walked for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, JDRF. For Church juvenile diabetes hits a soft spot in his heart, considering that he has battled with the disease since he was fifteen. Church also conducted a fundraiser until October 1^st, the day before he went to walk in Ohio; the results of how much he was able to collect for the foundation was not reported.

If you have ever been watching a local television channel and happen to see a commercial for “Front Room Underfashions”, a store in Lansing on South Hagadorn road, you may take a closer look at the owners. Our own Mrs. Ferguson happens to have a very close relationship to the owner, her mother. Crystal Bliese, along with her best friend Judy Ferguson, own and manage the store. The relation that Mrs. Holly Ferguson has to the store is special to her. Front Room is designed for women who have undergone various types of breast surgery.

On Saturday October 23^rd Ferguson, along with her parents, sisters, brother-in-law, and niece walked for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 5K walk in downtown Lansing. This isn’t the first time that Furgeson has participated in the event though, she says she has been involved since it stared which was about ten years ago. Ferguson says she raised five hundred dollars for the American Cancer Society.  

Our own principal, Mr. Johnson, along with Mrs. Penski and Mrs. Penski’s brother-in-law and her daughter’s first grade teacher, ran the Detroit Marathon Relay Race in honor of Penkis’ daughter being the one of the four faces of the American Heart Association’s, Running 4 Heart, campaign. The team participated in the open co-ed division and finished 48^th out of 254 with a time just under four hours. Johnson ran the 6.6 mile leg and Penski ran a three mile leg.

Penski didn’t stop with just the Detroit Marathon though. On October 3^rd Penski along with her husband, children, brother, sister-in-law their newborn baby, and some friends ran the Big House Big Heart 5K; it was a fundraiser for the University of Michigan's Motts Children's Hospital and for us, the American Heart Association's Running 4 Heart Campaign.

“This was amazing - 25,000 runners, which was a pain dashing in and out of walkers for the first mile - every race finished by running through the players' tunnel where there were Michigan teams high-fiving runners and cheering them on and then through end zone and finished at the 50-yard line. And, yes, many of us wore our Spartan clothes and put a hex on the Wolverines,” Penski said about the race.

Mr. Zubal took to the streets of Chicago to run the Chicago marathon for the Tug McGraw foundation. The Tug McGraw foundation was established in 2003 to enhance the quality of life of children and adults with brain tumors and in 2009 expanded programs to include Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, and Trauma Brain Injury, TBI.

Zubal says that he trained for over sixteen weeks and ran over six hundred miles to train for the race. He also said that the race didn’t go as planned but he was able to raise around 1000 dollars for the foundation. Zubal says that he will probably run the race again.

Eaton Rapids may not be a town known for its participation in large scale events, but its proved that the hearts of some of our teachers happen to be used to help a cause bigger than them selves.

Every spring our town does host a walk for Relay for Life. Hopefully the time and energy that our teachers have given to greater causes can inspire some students to give to a cause greater than themselves. 

Tradtional CRP has changed

Realistically, people have been using the gift of life save others since biblical times. Early civilization was said to have used methods that, today, would be extremely unethical; like trying to resuscitate the body by using hot water or warm ashes or going as far as whipping the unconscious person.

                Using chest compressions to jump start the heart was adopted in early 1900’s and some sixty years later cardiopulmonary resuscitation, CPR, became renowned as the way to possibly save a life in an out-of hospital setting.

                According to the American Heart Association, the AHA, bystanders that obtain the knowledge of how to perform CPR on a person who has just suffered sudden cardiac arrest can double, or even triple, the victims’ chance of survival. As of April 2009 the AHA said they train more than 12 million people in CPR including the general public and health care professionals.

                The AHA has not put an age restriction on when you can learn to perform CPR; they say the ability to perform CPR is based more on body strength. The AHA says that children as young as nine years old are able to retain the knowledge of how to perform CPR. The problem may not rest in the age of a person, however, if a person has the courage to watch a person collapse and, without deteriorating themselves, perform CPR on a stranger.

“If you see an adult suddenly collapse, call 911 and push hard and fast in the center of the chest. Don’t be afraid. Your actions can only help,” said the AHA.

                Recently,  the American Heart Association decide that the “P” in “CPR” will be dropped from the acronym and now we will refer to the resuscitation of the human life as CR. The P should have never been placed in the acronym though, considering that the actual spelling is cardiopulmonary, making the CP one word instead of two.

                With the change of the acronym also comes the change of the guidelines. The new guidelines apply to adults, children, and infants but exclude newborns. The traditional way of CPR was A-B-C; now calling it CR we go to C-A-B. The traditional A-B-C way was airway, breathing, and compressions. The new C-A-B way is compressions, airway, and breathing.

                  "By starting with chest compressions, that's easy to remember, and for many victims that alone will be lifesaving," says Michael R. Sayre, MD, chair of the emergency cardiovascular care committee for the American Heart Association and co-author of the executive summary of the 2010 AHA guidelines for CPR and emergency cardiovascular care.

                When someone is in a panic they may not be thinking clearly and may forget how to perform in an emergency. If you are in the same area as someone when they go into cardiac arrest here are seven steps for you to remember that could help you save someone else’s life:

 1. Call 911 or ask someone else to do so. 2. Try to get the person to respond; if they don’t, roll the person on his or her back. 3. Start chest compressions. Place the heel of your hand on the center of the victim's chest. Put your other hand on top of the first with your fingers interlaced. 4. Press down so you compress the chest at least two inches in adults and children and one and a half inches in infants. 5.  If you're been trained in CPR, you can now open the airway with a head tilt and chin lift. 6. Pinch closed the nose of the victim. Take a normal breath, cover the victim's mouth with yours to create an airtight seal, and then give two, one-second breaths as you watch for the chest to rise. 7. Continue compressions and breaths -- 30 compressions, two breaths -- until help arrives.

Hopefully no one will be in a position to have to perform CR on another human, but if you happen to be, remembering these simple steps will help aid you in saving someone’s life.