This is the blood and guts of first response, the most important thing you will do: survey the situation.

Whenever an accident or emergency occurs and you are the first person to arrive at the scene, there is one important technique to follow first: Check Call Care.

Within the principles of Check Call Care, there are two more principles you must follow: Survey the Scene and Conduct a Primary Survey. Within the Primary Survey, you will determine the status of the unconscious victim using the time-honored strategy airway breathing circulation.

Oh No! There's been an accident! What do I do first?

Check Call Care

To check the victim, you must first survey the scene to ensure your safety; then, do a primary survey.

After checking the victim, call the EMS, giving them a description of the emergency situation as well as the location of the scene.

After calling the EMS, provide appropriate Care based on your primary survey of the victim until EMS or other advance medical personnel arrives and takes over.

Survey the scene

Before you try to help the victim, you must determine if the scene is safe. If anything dangerous is present, such as a live wire, a vicious animal, deep water, or fire, you cannot endanger your own life to try to help the victim. Summon trained medical personnel immediately, and they will handle the situation. If you get hurt at the scene, you end up as just another victim for their EMS to treat. Once you have called EMS, you have done all you can in such a situation.

If the scene is safe, try to determine what may have happened or what caused the accident. Determine how many victims there are, and look for bystanders who may be able to help by providing information about the victim or the accident, calling EMS, or helping give treatment to the victim. Never move the victim to give treatment unless immediate life-threatening danger exists, like a fire or an unstable structure ready to collapse.

Primary survey

After determining that the scene is safe, you must do a primary survey of the victim(s). You will check to determine if the victim:

• is conscious
• has an open, unobstructed airway
• is breathing
• has a heartbeat
• is not bleeding severely

To check for consciousness, gently tap the victim and ask, "Are you okay?" If the victim can speak or cry, he or she is conscious, breathing, and has a pulse. If the victim is unresponsive, he or she may be unconscious, indicating a possibly life-threatening condition. An unconscious person's tongue relaxes and may fall back to block the airway, stopping breathing and eventually the heartbeat.

Next, if the victim is unconscious, kneel next to the victim's head and check for the ABC's: Airway, Breathing and Circulation.

A To open the airway of an unconscious victim, tilt the head back and lift the chin.

B To check for breathing, you must look, listen and feel. Place your above the victim’s mouth and nose, so that you can listen and feel for air being exhaled while watching the victim's chest for a gentle rise and fall that occurs when breathing. If the victim is not breathing, you must give 2 slow breaths. This is called rescue breathing. If the breaths do not go in, retilt the head and try again. If the breaths still do not go in, the victim has an obstructed airway, and you must go to ABDOMINAL THRUSTS. If the breaths do go in, then continue with your primary survey.

C To check for circulation, you must check the victim's pulse at one of the carotid arteries, located in the neck on either side of the Adam's apple. Using your index and middle finger (Never use your thumb--it has a pulse and you may mistake it for that of the victim!) find the Adam's apple and then slide your fingers toward the side of the neck facing you into the groove in the side of the neck. Take at least 5 to 10 seconds to feel for the pulse. If the victim is an infant, locate the pulse in the brachial artery, on the inside of the upper arm in between the elbow and the shoulder. If the victim has a pulse but is not breathing, you must go immediately to RESCUE BREATHING. If the victim is not breathing and does not have a pulse, go immediately to CPR. Check the body for signs of any severe external bleeding(bleeding is severe when blood spurts from a wound, and it is life-threatening).