The Respiratory System
Respiration. You have learned that cell respiration takes place when the cells take in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide. This process maintains the life of the cell by providing oxygen for the burning of food in the cell.
Body respiration, or breathing, takes place in the lungs. When you breathe, you draw air into your lungs by moving a large sheet of tissue called the diaphragm, and by the action of the rib muscles. Look at the illustration to see how the diaphragm causes the lungs to expand and contract.
When air is drawn into your lungs, it passes through several parts of the respiratory system. It is first drawn through the nose and mouth. There it is cooled or warmed by the moist tissues that line the passages. Foreign bodies are filtered out by tiny hairs in the nose.
The air passes through the nasal passages and the throat and is drawn into the trachea, or wind-pipe, and the bronchial tubes. These tubes lead to air sacs called alveoli. In the alveoli, the transfer of gases into the blood takes place.
Oxygen in blood. The alveoli are surrounded by a dense concentration of capillaries that carry the blood from the veins. This blood has a high concentration of carbon dioxide and a low concentration of oxygen. Because the walls between the capillaries and the air sacs are so thin, both carbon dioxide and oxygen can pass through them.
Carbon dioxide passes out of the blood, and oxygen passes into it. The oxygen is picked up by a compound called hemoglobin. Hemoglobin gives the blood its red color.
After the blood obtains oxygen in the alveoli, it is pumped to the left side of the heart, then through the arteries to the capillaries, and then to the cells of the body, where cell respiration takes place, and the process begins again.
First Aid for Asphyxiation - Part 1
Accidental asphyxiation. Stoppage of breathing occurs most often in drownings. However, it may occur in carbon monoxide poisoning and other accidents. When a person stops breathing, serious injury and death can follow in a few minutes. Therefore, asphyxiation, or stoppage of breathing, must be given immediate first aid.
The best way to eliminate the danger of asphyxiation by drowning is to follow the water-safety rules you will find in this book. Care of automobile exhaust systems will eliminate the danger of asphyxiation by carbon monoxide poisoning. Proper handling and storage of old refrigerators are other good ways to reduce the danger of accidental asphyxiation.
When breathing has stopped. Always begin artificial respiration immediately upon discovery of an asphyxiated person. Do not believe bystanders who claim that there is no hope, or that the "victim has been out for an hour." The excitement of an accident often wrecks people’s sense of time and judgment. One minute may seem like twenty during the excitement of an accident.
When you begin first aid for stoppage of breathing, you should use the mouth-to-mouth method of rescue breathing. This is the easiest and most effective way to force air into a victim’s lungs. According to the Red Cross, it is the best of the methods of resuscitation, or revival.
Mouth-to-mouth breathing. If you need to administer rescue breathing to a person, proceed with the following steps.
1. Lay the victim on his back. Turn his head to one side and quickly wipe out any foreign matter that is present in his mouth. Check to see that his throat is clear.
2. Kneel beside him and tilt his head as far back as possible so that his chin is pointing up. Pull or push his jaw into a jutting-out position. Hold the jaw in this position while proceeding with the mouth-to-mouth breathing. These procedures will keep the victim’s tongue from obstructing the flow of air into his lungs.
3. Open your mouth wide. Place it over the victim’s mouth so that a leakproof seal is formed. At the same time, close his nostrils. Blow sharply into the victim’s mouth.
4. If you see the victim’s chest rise, proceed. Otherwise, check his tongue and head position. If you still fail to get air to the victim’s lungs, turn him to one side and deliver several sharp slaps to the middle of his back in an attempt to dislodge the obstruction.
5. Once the airway is clear, blow vigorously into his mouth once every five seconds (twelve times a minute). After each time you blow into the victim’s mouth, remove your mouth and listen for the return rush of air. This indicates air exchange. Then repeat the process.
For a young child, blow gently; for a baby, in puffs. Children should receive twenty breaths a minute instead
of the adult twelve.
6. Continue rescue breathing until the patient begins breathing for himself or he has been declared dead by a doctor.
If you do not wish to come into such close contact with a victim, you may wish to spread a handkerchief over his mouth. This will not obstruct the passage of air to any great degree.
You may be able to use an airway. This is a tube made especially for mouth-to-mouth breathing. It is designed to eliminate mouth-to-mouth contact and to keep the victim’s throat clear during rescue breathing. An airway can be obtained at most drug stores.
If you cannot or will not use mouth-to-mouth breathing, you can use another method. Other methods of resuscitation are effective, but none is as easy for the rescuer nor as effective as the mouth-to-mouth method.
Think for Yourself
Why should you not discontinue rescue breathing if a bystander says, "He’s dead now. Nothing will save him"?
