Jim Jones the rapper, best known for his breakout single “We Fly High”, is much more than just the rugged MC that he portrays in the media. With his recent life-saving actions, he’s trying to start a new, more important trend of being ready for emergencies.
He and his friend Jerry “Flee Flicks” Flete reflected on when Jones gave him CPR and saved his life. In a recent interview with Inside Edition, Jones opened up about the time he saw Flete struggling to breathe and rushed to his aid during a recent trip to Florida.
“I just saw Flee sitting, just going through something that didn’t seem good, like he was choking,” Jones said. “He couldn’t breathe, and his eyes was going back in his head, and he was catching a bit of a seizure. I actually didn’t know what was going on. Kind of scared me.”
Inside Edition first reported Sunday (Jan. 2), that the Harlem-born rapper and entrepreneur used CPR to save Jerry Flete, also known as Flee Flicks, after he suddenly collapsed while both were in Florida for a cryptocurrency event for Jones Capo Coin company.
“We [were] just literally just hanging out on a break from work,” Flete told the outlet’s Stephanie Officer. “It just happened so fast. Basically, I woke up [and] Jim [was] giving me chest compressions and telling me, ‘Wake up. Wake up.’ He basically saved my life. I’m here today because of Jim.”
Fleet added, “I didn’t know what was going on at the moment,” Flete recalls. “I guess everything happened so fast. But I had an out-of-body experience. I felt like I was telling myself to come back to myself. Then I just, I guess when I snapped out of it, Jim was giving me chest compressions. The first person I woke up to was just Jim. He was holding me. I was sitting down. It happened while I was sitting down, so Jim was over me, hugging over me, I guess giving me chest compressions. That’s how I started breathing.”
Jones later took to Instagram to share the Inside Edition piece, and encourage his fans to get the training he got as a kid to make sure his friend could breathe. As he put it, Flete “scared the shit out of me.”
“God is good who else gone capture me when I b havin th Shit on lol 😂,” he wrote. “On a serious note, I encourage everyone to get cpr lessons for you [and] the family.”
Jones did the right thing by administering CPR and saved a life. When faced with someone choking, you too can save a life.
How to Do CPR
According to the American Red Cross, here are the 7 steps of CPR.
1. Check the scene for safety, form an initial impression and use personal protective equipment (PPE)
2. If the person appears unresponsive, CHECK for responsiveness, breathing, life-threatening bleeding or other life-threatening conditions using shout-tap-shout
3. If the person does not respond and is not breathing or only gasping, CALL 9-1-1 and get equipment, or tell someone to do so
4. Place the person on their back on a firm, flat surface
—steps continue on next page—
5. Give 30 chest compressions
Hand position: Two hands centered on the chest
Body position: Shoulders directly over hands; elbows locked
Depth: At least 2 inches
Rate: 100 to 120 per minute
Allow chest to return to normal position after each compression
6. Give 2 breaths
Open the airway to a past-neutral position using the head-tilt/chin-lift technique
Ensure each breath lasts about 1 second and makes the chest rise; allow air to exit before giving the next breath
Note: If the 1st breath does not cause the chest to rise, retilt the head and ensure a proper seal before giving the 2nd breath If the 2nd breath does not make the chest rise, an object may be blocking the airway
7. Continue giving sets of 30 chest compressions and 2 breaths.
Use an AED as soon as one is available!
The universal sign for choking is hands clutched to the throat. If the person doesn’t give the signal, look for these indications:
- Inability to talk
- Difficulty breathing or noisy breathing
- Squeaky sounds when trying to breathe
- Cough, which may either be weak or forceful
- Skin, lips and nails turning blue or dusky
- Skin that is flushed, then turns pale or bluish in color
- Loss of consciousness
If the person is able to cough forcefully, the person should keep coughing. If the person is choking and can’t talk, cry or laugh forcefully, the American Red Cross recommends a “five-and-five” approach to delivering first aid:
- Give 5 back blows. Stand to the side and just behind a choking adult. For a child, kneel down behind. Place one arm across the person’s chest for support. Bend the person over at the waist so that the upper body is parallel with the ground. Deliver five separate back blows between the person’s shoulder blades with the heel of your hand.
- Give 5 abdominal thrusts. Perform five abdominal thrusts (also known as the Heimlich maneuver).
Alternate between 5 blows and 5 thrusts until the blockage is dislodged.
For a CPR class near you, click this link.