Can I have one of these please boss?

It is designed to plug into an oxygen cylinder and will automatically perform effective CPR (they tested it on pigs, which I can't really support - I like pigs, and I have friends who love pigs.)

I mean, not only will it mean that I can be lazy and not actually have to jump up and down on someone's chest, but if I'm the sole responder I can then concentrate on breathing for the patient.

Also it is more effective than manual CPR, and unlike me it doesn't get tired.

Only £6,000 - we can't let Staffordshire ambulance service beats us now, can we?

Note - photograph from the Daily Mail website, copyright does not belong to me.

I’ve not posted anything about hurricane Katrina, mainly because I have to say that hasn’t already been said by better people than me.

Instead, here is some haunting writing by two Paramedics caught up in the middle of it.

“Unfortunately, our sinking feeling (along with the sinking City) was correct. Just as dusk set in, a Gretna Sheriff showed up, jumped out of his patrol vehicle, aimed his gun at our faces, screaming, "Get off the fucking freeway". A helicopter arrived and used the wind from its blades to blow away our flimsy structures. As we retreated, the sheriff loaded up his truck with our food and water.”

“In the pandemonium of having our camp raided and destroyed, we scattered once again. Reduced to a small group of 8 people, in the dark, we sought refuge in an abandoned school bus, under the freeway on Cilo Street. We were hiding from possible criminal elements but equally and definitely, we were hiding from the police and sheriffs with their martial law, curfew and shoot-to-kill policies.”

I’ve been reading this post on being poor.  It’s partly an explanation as to why a lot of people couldn’t evacuate from the path of hurricane Katrina.

It’s strange, but there were bits in it that brought tears to my eyes, because my family had been in that situation in the past and it brought back some memories that I thought I had forgotten.

I thank my luck that I’m no longer in that situation, but tonight, when I’m at work, I know that I’ll see signs of poverty at some of the houses that I go to – and that this post will make me think about it a lot more than I normally would.

An excerpt,

Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.

Being poor is knowing your kid goes to friends' houses but never has friends over to yours.

Being poor is going to the restroom before you get in the school lunch line so your friends will be ahead of you and won't hear you say "I get free lunch" when you get to the cashier.

Being poor is crying when you drop the mac and cheese on the floor.

Being poor is stealing meat from the store, frying it up before your mom gets home and then telling her she doesn't have make dinner tonight because you're not hungry anyway.