Breathing or Not? The Decision Race

A relay where each runner grabs a case card from the center and the team decides and performs the right response: talk and monitor, recovery position, or CPR on a cushion. It mixes hard running with the basic first aid decision tree.

How to play

1. Review the three-branch decision tree: responsive; unresponsive and breathing normally; unresponsive and not breathing normally (4 min).
2. Teams of five in lines; in the center, a hoop with cards face down; at each team's base, a mat and a cushion (2 min).
3. First round: the runner brings back a card, the team decides out loud and two members act it out: recovery position with a classmate on the mat, or 30 compressions on the cushion while shouting 'Call 911, get the AED!' (8 min).
4. Second round with trick cards: a casualty who vomits, one who stops breathing while in the recovery position, or one who wakes up during CPR (7 min).
5. Go over the trick cards and which teams got the most right (4 min).

Rules

• Recovery position is practiced on classmates; compressions only on the cushion.
• Start when the previous runner taps your hand.
• If the decision is wrong, the teacher says so and the team redoes it correctly.
• You win by correct answers, not by speed.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: run a shorter course in the wheelchair, or be the card reader who calls the action.
• Students with visual impairments: the team reads the cards aloud; they perform the recovery position with hand-over-hand guidance.
• Students who prefer no contact: do the recovery position as the rescuer on a willing partner, not as the casualty.

Learning goals

• Choose between recovery position and CPR based on responsiveness and breathing.
• Perform the recovery position and compressions with correct technique.
• Stay calm when deciding after hard effort.

Equipment for a class of 25

• case cards: 30
• mats: 6
• cushions: 6
• cones: 6

Teacher tip

Prepare about 30 cards with short cases and a few trick ones. Common mistake: putting someone who isn't breathing into the recovery position; stress that without normal breathing it is always CPR.

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