So I'm At An EMT Class The Other Day…

…teaching some fledgling lifesavers how to do artificial ventilations with a bag-valve-mask and how to insert advanced airway devices. I’m critiquing the technique of one of them, when I hear this precious little voice from the corner,

“One one-thousand…two one-thousand…three one-thousand…four one-thousand…five one-thousand…BREATHE…”

I look over, and KatyBeth has picked up a spare Ambu bag, and is doing her best to ventilate a CPR manikin. She’s holding the bag in place with her right hand, and gamely trying to squeeze the bag with her Lucky Fin.

I call out, half-jokingly, “Tuck the bag under your arm and squeeze it that way, Sweetie. It’ll work better.”

I’ll be damned if she didn’t actually get a few decent breaths in.

“Aawwww, how sweet!” one of the students gushes. “Just like her Daddy!”

“Yep,” I beam proudly, “so let that be a lesson to you. My five-year-old with cerebral palsy and only one good arm has given more effective breaths than you have in the past five minutes. So quit telling me how tough this is and get your butts back to work.”

*sigh*

There’s nothing like being shown up by a toddler to make a student work harder.