Somebody collapsing in front you can leave you panicked and frightened. But to help the victim, you need to assess the level of a situation – an emergency or something normal. Some simple steps can help you decide the best action to take.
How to respond?
You need to do the following to check whether the person is conscious or not:
- Pinch the person on the shoulders (do not in case of a baby or child)
- Speak aloud
- Check for a neck injury
What to do?
The next procedure would be to:
- Get help or shout for help
- Remove obstructions from the mouth
- Open the airway by placing the victim on his or her back and gently tilting the head back with one hand on the forehead and with the fingertips gently raising the chin with the other
- Observe movements in the stomach and chest
- Monitor breathing and airway
- Call 911 or a local ambulance
- Start resuscitating or chest pumping
The collapse could have been on account of any reason – trauma, weakness, etc. So, emergency services have to be called right away.