Were you unable to attend the Kaibab Trail Suspension Bridge Historic Landmark Dedication at the Grand Canyon in February? That’s ok: we’re bringing the event to you on Wednesday, June 12 at the Phoenix Branch Luncheon – I hope to see you there!

You’ll be seeing emails this month on voting for various ASCE positions – please participate!

How to Save Someone’s Life

This article is based in part on the Radiolab Podcast Episode How to Be a Hero)

As engineers, we’re striving to design and construct projects that are safe and efficient. As citizens, family members, and fellow human beings, we’re tasked with listening to and helping others… but are we tasked with saving someone’s life? Maybe… but maybe not. Saving someone’s life is a two-step process that involves having the propensity to help and the opportunity to help. My thoughts are here:

1.) Take a CPR or First Aid Course. There are a number free, online courses available on this website. If you can spare even a matter of minutes, you may find some useful tools that could help you in an emergency situation.

2.) Join www.bethematch.org. Joining means volunteering to be listed as a potential blood stem cell donor, ready to save the life of any patient in need of a transplant. When I joined several months ago, I was shocked how simple and fast the process was. Because of the genetic complexity of matching donors to patients, it could be weeks, month or years before you’re contacted to donate – it also means you could be one of several potential matches, or you could be their ONLY match.

3.) Learn the Heimlich. What makes the Heimlich Maneuver particularly special is that it is accessible to everyone.

4.) Have a “high-rise” plan. Researchers found that emergency workers took 3 minutes, on average, to reach patients below a building’s third floor, but an average of nearly 5 minutes to reach patients on the third floor or above. If you live or work in a building on the third floor or above, assign someone to escort emergency workers through locked lobby doors and have elevator doors open and ready to go when they arrive.

5.) Be ready. What would you do? There’s an entire TV show dedicated to this question entering its 14^th season this fall: how ordinary people behave when they are confronted with dilemmas that require them either to take action or to walk by and mind their own business. You never know when you might be on the show!

I hope you have a great summer. Thank you for reading.

• August 2019 – My Thoughts on ASCE
• September 2019 – Thank you
• October 2019 – Breanna Connolly Takes Over the President’s Message