Love it or loath it (the bridge, not the location!), no-one can deny that every session at the community allotment at Hogacre Common gives us a good stair workout! Hogacre is tucked in between railway line and flood plain. The access is across a pedestrian bridge with many steps, making deliveries to the garden challenging.

Items we have been asked to carry across the bridge in the past include sofas and horse manure, so tonight's task of shovelling woodchip into boxes to carry across was pretty easy by comparison. We used the first loads to spread woodchip around the boggy entrance to the site, then refilled the boxes and delivered them to the garden gate for use around the beds and pathways.

Meanwhile, Django the spaniel kept a watchful eye on the GoodGymers weeding and mulching the garden beds; everyone's favourite supervisor!

Welcome back Axelle!

I did a mid-week delivery for Mrs H as I was imminently about to go on holiday to Jersey. I had a lovely chat about it with her, as Jersey was where Mrs H went on her honeymoon, so she has many fond memories of it! I look forward to telling her all about the holiday on my next visit, not least because now I know how to pronounce the names of half the places!

Our Wednesday group session looked a little different last week - We were very fortunate to be offered Basic Life Support training by the lovely Nikki and Elaine at Manor Hospital in Headington. It was a really valuable hour and a half which gave us knowledge and confidence to help in life-or-death situations.

A brief recap of what we covered is below:
The Chain of survival - Early recognition, Early compression, Early defibrillation (ideally in first 5 minutes), early hospitalisation.

Recognising heart attack vs Cardiac arrest.
When someone is having a heart attack they will still be able to talk to you and describe their symptoms. They may complain of pain in their left arm, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and women will often describe a feeling like terrible indigestion.

What to do for a patient with a suspected heart attack:
* Call for help.
* put them into the 'W' sitting position.
* If you know for certain that they are not on any kind of blood thinners give them Asprin 300 mg (crush it if necessary).
* Monitor them closely. If they collapse go to DRS ABC (below).

Someone experiencing a cardiac arrest is effectively dead at that moment. Their heart has stopped. Implement the DRS ABC (detail below). 12% of cardiac arrest patients are saved in the community. It is worth trying CPR and defibrillation - if you do nothing, nothing changes and they definitely die.

DRSABC
D - danger - is it safe?
R - response - do they respond to voice or stimulus?
S - Shout for help - Emphasise the word HELP.
A - Airway - Ensure airway is clear by tilting head back and lifiting the chin.
B - Breathing - assess for breathing for 10 seconds (look, listen, feel), but don't be fooled by 'agonal gasping'. You are looking for regular normal breaths.
C - CPR - start chest compressions.

Top Tips for CPR:
* Get the patient onto a hard surface.
* Aim for compressions in the centre of the chest just below the armpits.
* Aim for compressions about 5cm deep at a rate of about 100-120 per minute. Nellie the Elephant or Stayin' Alive both work well as songs to keep you about the right pace.
* Adults have 3-4 minutes worth of oxygen in the blood, so compressions are the priority. If you aren't happy to give rescue breaths focus on the chest compressions.
* If the patient is in cardiac arrest due to drowning rescue breathes ARE important.

Top Tips for Using a Defibrillator
* One person should continue CPR while the other gets the defibrillator.
* The 999 operator will give you the code to unlock the nearest defibrillator. They will also tell you where your nearest one is. Always go to the one they send you to (they might know your nearest one is out of service, for example).
* Defibrillators on private land should have the code to unlock them on the bottom left.
* SWITCH IT ON! The machine will then tell you exactly what to do step-by-step.
* Continue CPR while the defibrillator is prepared.
* You may need to dry the person off or shave a patch of chest hair to get the pads to stick properly.
* The machine will tell you not to touch the patient (pause CPR too) while it assesses whether the heart is shockable or non-shockable and will advise a shock if appropriate.
* If the heart rhythm is not shockable continue CPR until further help arrives.
* If it is shockable loudly warn everyone around you are about to shock & not to touch patient. “3-2-1 shocking”

What to do if you or someone else is choking
If you are alone and start to choke don't waste time - go and get help from a neighbour or passerby.

Choking protocol:
* 5 effective back slaps
* If that doesn’t work J shape x5
* Then shout for help
* Repeat
* If the patient collapses go to DRS ABC as above
* If they start breathing put in recovery position until help arrives.

Anaphalaxys
In anaphalaxys a massive amount of histamine plummets the blood pressure. Most patients with known allergies will have 2 epi-pens which they should carry at all times.
1. Call for help
2. Get the patient on the floor with their feet up
3. If patient is still responsive get them to administer their own pen
4. If have to administer take off cap push against outer upper thigh. Hold for 10 seconds.
5. Monitor for 5 minutes
6. If there's no improvement after 5 minutes give the 2nd pen in their other leg
7. If the patient doesn't have a pen you should do steps 1 and 2 and closely monitor them until help arrives.

MANY thanks to Elaine and Nikki for giving us this valuable training.

Find your nearest defibrillator here.

DRSABC here.

Mrs H wasn't feeling too good, and she had read one of the books before. I'll try harder with the selection next time!

Just a very quick drop-off today, not much of a chat, but Mrs H is well.

Makespace is a gorgeous community building on the banks of the river, a stones throw from Port Meadow. It houses artists, a very thriving book and plant swap cupboard, and the famed Library of Things.

We pop there annually to give their outside space a spruce and tidy and tonight was no different.

Fourteen Goodgymers made light work of weeding the paving slabs, cutting back brambles to reveal roses, honeysuckle and budlia, and de-mossing the entrance. Ben even got to use a strimmer to attack the ling grass but declared it "a young mans game"..........

A little trio of us then had a delightful jog across Port Meadow - spotting The Medley and reminiscing about the evening we spent there eating pizza in torrential rain!!

Thank you everyone and special well done to Megan on her 50th good deed!!