CPR in the Water

                CPR is very closely linked with lifeguarding and water related emergencies. Over 3,500 fatal drowning’s occur each year not including the 350 people that die each year from boating related incidents. Ten people per day drown unintentionally (Suicide or murder). One in five of those deaths are children under the age of 14; two children per day die from unintentional drowning in the United States. Children between the ages of 1 and 4 were more at risk than any other age group. 30% of unintentional deaths among this age group were from drowning.

                Most drowning’s occur in home swimming pools. Even if the person is saved from the water they still need medical care and may need CPR administered before their heart never beats again. This showcases even further why everyone should know CPR, what if that was your son or daughter, your little brother or sister, maybe it was your neighbor that fell into your open pool. This is a need to know skill that can be the difference between life and death!

CPR in Action!

You're at the beach one day on vacation. You're splashing through the waves and all of a sudden you feel an immense pain in your chest and left arm. You’ve just had a heart attack at the ripe age of seventeen. Now you’re unconscious, a woman spots you and with the help of another bystander they drag you ashore. This woman immediately checks for your pulse, there’s nothing. She begins CPR, but she has none of the equipment. The lifeguard’s are nowhere in sight, the woman helping you has no AED, gloves, oxygen or breathing mask.

You have no pulse and you’re not breathing. The compressions are tiring and meticulous, your rescuer is getting very tired, but she pushes on. It’s been about two and a half minutes and there is still no advanced medical care. Each second that ticks by your chances of survival get lower and lower. Her hands are the only thing keeping you alive. Your brain is lacking oxygen, her breath alone isn’t giving you enough. The paramedics are on their way but haven’t arrived yet.

It’s been about seven minutes. The sirens are getting louder and louder to all the people watching on in curiosity. Your rescuer is almost too tired to continue. The ambulance pulls up and the paramedics flood out, they take over for the woman who has lost all energy. But what if those lifeguards had been there? What if there were more people knew CPR and could have helped? Would you still be brain dead?

CPR is lifesaving. CPR is life changing. CPR will keep your heart pumping when you are dying. Any preexisting heart condition can go undetected and can strike even the youngest of people at any time. 400,000 people in the US alone will need to have CPR administered every year. Over 1,000 people a day will experience cardiac arrest and only 10% will live. Make sure the next person that needs saving is in that 10%. 

A young Japanese exchange student was spending time at the beach when tragedy struck. 26 year old Taka was unaware of his pre-existing heart condition until it was too late. The lifeguards at Bondi beach thankfully brought Taka back to life after he was clinically dead. It may seem like he is breathing when they are saving him, but this is a thing called agonal breathing. Agonal breathing is a sign that the body is not receiving the oxygen it needs. It most often occurs when a person is actively dying and is an indicator of cardiac arrest or the process of dying. Taka was clinically dead as his heart was no longer beating, the agonal respiration was in no way an indication that he was alive.

CPR in the Schooling System

For decades the controversy regarding CPR in the school systems all over the world has been very prevalent in our society. Should children learn CPR and be able to save a life? The law has already been passed in Alabama, Arizona (Guidelines for CPR course if the school wants to offer it), Arkansas, Colorodo (recommended the course, not mandatory), Georgia, Idaho, Illinois (Course is offered but it’s not mandatory), Indiana (Students can opt out with a waver), Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland (Not required to graduate), Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York (If schools offer good reason they can defer the law in their district), North Carolina, North Dakota (State funding is available but the course is not mandatory), Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. States that have had the bill introduced Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.

On Tuesday October 21, 2014 Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the CPR in schools bill that makes it mandatory for CPR training to be taught in our schools. This can still be rejected by the board or regents if they don’t see it fit in our curriculum. They would have to

If you are already CPR certified then make sure you know where the nearest CPR equipment is (AED, safety gloves, breathing mask, oxygen if possible). Our high school already has an AED, which is located across the hall from the nurse’s office, so if you are trained make sure you know where this is, save a life.

The Difference Between Life and Death

Knowing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is one of the most important assets a person can have. CPR is the artificial pumping of the heart through chest compressions while mouth-to-mouth respiration is administered. This process allows oxygenated blood to be pumped artificially through the body by another person. CPR training is extremely important because 92% of the people experiencing cardiac arrest will not survive if it’s not administered.

Nearly 400,000 people go into cardiac arrest or experience heart failure every day in the United States. On average about 10% of these victims in out-of-hospital situations will survive solely on the CPR certified bystanders around them and how far away advanced medical care is from them.  This also can be affected by improper CPR administration, don’t follow the examples you see in movies. CPR is more than just pumping someone’s chest once or twice, tilting their head back and breathing into their mouth until they start coughing, it is much more than that. There is a small bone in the chest called the Xyphoid Process that if a person’s hands are placed wrong can become dislodged and puncture a lung or other organs. There are far more compressions that need to be administered as well. It is more likely to kill them if this ‘form’ of CPR is used.

If a person goes into cardiac arrest and there is no bystander that has CPR training the likelihood of survival is low. If there is someone to administer the lifesaving technique they can double or triple the victim’s chances of survival. The immediate use of CPR with an automated external defibrillator (AED) can more than double a victim’s chance of survival. It is actually the only way to restore the victim’s heart rhythm back to normal in most cases. The downside to this is that 64% of Americans have never even seen an AED, let alone know how to use it.

Every minute that passes without the administration of CPR especially without an AED reduces the chances of survival by 7-10%. Within 4-6 minutes the victim may become brain dead or biologically dead (past salvation). After 10 minutes very few rescues occur. Learning CPR is a lifesaving tool that can only help those around you.