Over 326,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur annually. NINETY PERCENT of these victims DO NOT SURVIVE.
Effective bystander CPR, provided immediately after cardiac arrest, can double or triple a victim's chance of survival.
I took a CPR course many years ago, and "back in the day" we were trained to use a combination of breaths and chest compressions. The American Heart Association has done extensive research and found that in adults, hands only CPR (chest compressions only), performed at the rate of 100 chest compressions per minute is just as effective. If you want to know how to measure 100 compressions per minute, just compress to the beat of the Bee Gee's "Stayin' Alive".
One of the highlights of the luncheon for me was getting some hands on training in from members of our local fire department. They had dummies on which to practice that showed how hard you actually need to press when doing chest compressions. They said if you break a rib during chest compressions, that is a good thing! That means you are pressing hard enough. Who knew?
Four Reasons to Learn CPR
- I learned that 70% of out of hospital cardiac arrests occur in homes or residential settings.
- Chances are, if you are called on to perform CPR, you'll be doing it on someone you love – a spouse, child, parent or friend.
- For every minute a person is "down" without getting CPR, their chances of survival DECREASE by 7-10%. That's why it is important to know what to do and to do it quickly.
- I learned that CPR is not hard. I could do it now, based on a few minutes of training, but I want to do more. I am going to sign up for a CPR course.
Find a training course here... www.cpr.heart.org/