From getting overheated at a ball-park to accidently cutting your finger slicing a tomato, emergencies happen. The trick is staying calm and knowing what to do. The most important thing is to call 911 and begin administering first aid.

Even people who have never taken a first-aid course can be instructed to start simple CPR. Many 911 dispatchers are trained to teach CPR over the phone.

Here are five of the most common emergencies and what to do.

1. Emergency: Dizziness, Fainting.  There are many medical causes for these symptoms, like a heart condition, diabetes, low blood sugar, pregnancy, heart attack, or it could be heat-related. Call 911.While you wait for paramedics to arrive:

· Check alertness: If they can respond ask basic questions, such as “Do you know where you are?'” Listen for breathing through the nose, watch the chest for rise and fall. Take a pulse, either at the wrist or neck. If they are breathing and have a pulse, stay with them.

· If the patient isn’t breathing, and doesn’t have a pulse, start CPR. The dispatcher at 911 can help you figure out how to take someone's pulse and how to begin CPR.

· Make the patient comfortable. If this person has been out in the heat, move them to a shady spot. Elderly people or very young children are more prone to heat-related conditions. If they're awake, give them fluids to drink.

2. Emergency: Chest Pain. If someone grabs their chest and says "my chest hurts," assume it's a heart attack. Chest pain is a symptom of a heart attack.

· Call 911. Then check airway, breathing, circulation (ABC). Are they breathing? Do they have a pulse? If not, start CPR. Again, 911 can help you administer CPR. If someone is not breathing, it is important to position their head with the chin up, get their tongue out of the way (so the airway is open), then start doing chest compressions.

3. Emergency: Choking. When does it become an emergency? “Everything is alright when someone is coughing because there is air movement, they are breathing," says Dr. Joseph LaMothe, Department Chairman of Rush North Shore’s Emergency Department."If they're not making any noise at all and their face is getting red, you need to do the Heimlich maneuver.

4. Emergency: Bleeding. "When someone cuts their finger, they think they're going to bleed to death," says Dr. LaMothe. "But, there are nine units of blood in the body. The scalp, fingers and toes bleed a lot and even a nosebleed can have a lot of blood. But the person won't bleed to death.”

· When something scares you, call 911 or go to the hospital. "We can say whether it's an emergency or not," says Dr. LaMothe.
· Don't make a tourniquet instead, put direct pressure on the site. Even if it's a partial amputation, put a rag around it, hold it tight.

5. Emergency: Seizure. The symptoms of seizures vary. The person may fall down, make erratic movements and their head might jerk and eyes flutter. This can happen to children who have a high fever, to someone with epilepsy, or when someone is having a stroke.

· Any seizure warrants medical attention. Call 911. While waiting for paramedics, make sure the person does not hurt themselves.  Don't try to put something in the person's mouth (as used to be advised); it's too dangerous. Also, watch the clock -- how long the seizure lasts.

It’s a comfort to know that when you are having an emergency that Rush North Shore is here to help. Our Emergency Department is consistently ranked among the highest rated ER’s by patients and their families. Known for treating emergencies with skill and compassion, we are a Level II trauma center staffed around the clock by board-certified physicians and nurses with special training in pediatric life support.
With two cardiac catheterization labs just steps away from the emergency department, and established protocols for early diagnosis and management of chest pain, Rush North Shore has been  recognized as one of the Top 100 hospitals in the nation for its cardiology and heart surgery program.