CNN Health

If you’re not yet familiar with the CNN Health section (http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/), I highly recommend that you check it out. We’ve got some great articles here on Health Eagle and we’re always scouting for the latest news, but there is an overwhelming amount of information available on health on the Web today. I like reading articles on CNN because it is a network that it widely known, so the writers are very likely to have valid resources and substantial credits. They definitely do a good job of getting news out fast, as well as keeping archives. If you ever have a question that our articles don’t cover, I bet CNN has covered at least some kind of story on that subject.

One of the recent articles that caught my eye is entitled “Five simple ways to save a life”. Sounds like an article worth reading, right? I’ll cover the five main points that the writer, Elizabeth Cohen, a CNN Medical Correspondent, does well to include.

The first point she makes is that you should never try to remove any object that has entered a person’s body. It may look more painful keeping it in there, but removing it might lead to an unexpected bleed, the object might be serving as a clot. Secondly, if you haven’t been trained to use a tourniquet, especially if you don’t even know what it is (it’s a device that is tightened around an area in order to stop the blood flow there), don’t try to use it. Also, if someone is having a severe allergic reaction, ask around (first the person with the reaction) for an epinephrine pen. (They’re not as uncommon as they might seem; I have one!) An epipen will help “tame” the reaction until the person can get treatment from a hospital. You do not need training to use an epipen.

Here’s something I didn’t know: you should never clean a tooth that has been knocked out. There are small nerves and ligaments that might be important. Lastly, if someone has fallen from a great height, do not move him. I used to do gymnastics, and I once fell from the uneven bars, flat onto my stomach. My dad moved me, but we later found out he shouldn’t have done that. I had fractured my neck upon impact and any incorrect movements could’ve been fatal.