CPR training

Travel Tidbits: Firearms, Kosher meals & CPR Training

A couple of travel tidbits for you:

TSA SEPT GUN

From theTSA Blog’s Week in Review:

This past week we marked the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy and, during the week, TSA officers found 31 firearms in carry-on luggage at airport checkpoints.

Of those firearms, 27 were loaded and eight had rounds chambered. Officers also found stun guns (14), some big knives, airsoft guns and assorted other items most definitely on the prohibited items list.

Keep Kosher?

Travelers seeking Kosher meals when at the airport now have a new option at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Starting the week of September 24th, Chef Allen’s 2 GO in Terminal 3 will be offering a line Kosher packaged to-go items.

CPR-Training at the airport

On Thursday, September 19, some Southwest Airlines travelers at Mineta San Jose International Airport will be able to get training – in English or Spanish – in hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) from 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

This is a one-time event, but if you’re interested in learning this valuable life-saving technique (which does require rescue breaths) keep in mind there’s an automated kiosk at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport where you can learn and practice on a dummy.

The kiosk was installed in July as a six-month pilot project, but the American Heart Association hopes to bring the concept to other airports.

Learn & practice CPR at DFW Airport

Travelers at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) can shop, snack, snooze and practice yoga while waiting for a flight. For the next six months they can also use their dwell time to learn how to save lives.

During a pilot program they hope to bring to other airports, the Dallas-based American Heart Association has partnered with American Airlines, also headquartered in Dallas, to host an automated kiosk to teach air travelers a simplified CPR method called Hands-Only.

Passengers can perform the technique — which does not require rescue breaths — on the torso of a manikin while viewing a watch-while-practice video showing the correct procedure in a non-threatening and fun way. “This tool really breaks the barrier people have of being afraid to initiate CPR while waiting for help to arrive,” said American Airlines physician Jeral Ahtone.

Research has shown that even abbreviated training with a short video can help people remember CPR steps, so secure, high-traffic areas such as airports, “where there is a lot of down time for people who are waiting for their flights” are logical sites to teach people the simplified CPR procedure, said Dr. Ahamed Idris, an American Heart Association volunteer and professor of Surgery and Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

The video program on the touch screen kiosk gives a brief introduction to the technique and is followed by a practice session and a 30-second test. Feedback is given to the user about depth, compression rate and proper hand placement.

“There’s a real value to putting simple and understandable life-saving information out in public,” said DFW spokesman David Magaña. And because DFW has added amenities such as a walking path, a yoga studio, a massage and spa center and a soundproofed nap center towards its goal of being “one of the healthiest airports anywhere … this project seemed a good fit,” he said.

And over the next six months, don’t be surprised if you come upon passengers at DFW humming the Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive” or doing a few John Travolta-style, finger-in-the-air disco dance moves. The instruction video encourages those performing CPR to first call 9-1-1 and then push hard and fast in the center of a victim’s chest to the beat of the disco classic, which has a perfect beat for the lifesaving procedure.

(My story about Hands-Only CPR training at DFW airport first appeared on NBC News Travel)