Verdict: too short for CPR

We had our first CPR/First Aid class today, and as we practiced doing CPR on a dummy, which was put on a table, it became clear pretty quickly that I was Far Too Short. I couldn't get enough leverage to compress the chest enough, so the dummy had to be moved to the floor.

I suppose that means I should pray that if anyone ever collapses dead in front of me that they have the decency to do it on the floor. [My CPR instructor was giggling so hard I thought he might have to be my test dummy.]

(no subject)

Quick thought on the PT path -- I met another Physical Therapist in our CPR class today, and... essentially he uses his PT license to do massage. I pointed out that massage therapists could do the same thing.

He said, "but they don't know assessment tests and can't put together a treatment plan." Argh. Of course we can -- insurance companies pay us a small fortune to rehab car accident victims, in fact. (And I bloody well did not spend well over 1,300 hours of my life just massaging people without any basis for how to assess folks. Sheesh.) He did say that PTs are more likely to get clients because people know about them, but I feel like paying another several thousand dollars and years of your life in exchange for better marketing is frustratingly silly. PT and massage therapy are both hands-on fields. Fact is, until you've been five years out, you just aren't going to be as intuitively medical in your knowledge of the body, and no amount of cerebal-only education is going to change that.