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.
This is really cool! I learned a lot from reading this! What kinds of things do you have to do to be CPR certified?
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that CPR is is life saving tool and I am glad that I know how to administer it. Are you aware of the bill that is being proposed to make it mandatory for schools to teach students CPR?
ReplyDeleteDelaney, there are a lot of things you can do to become CPR certified. There are a bunch of outlets for the training whether it be through Jeff Ellis & Associates, American Red Cross or the American Heart Association. Although the cost for the training can be quite pricey I feel that it's worth it!
ReplyDeleteTJ, when I heard the bill was signed by Governor Cuomo I was so happy that I wrote about it in the school paper as well as in my second blog post! Having CPR in schools is so important to me, the demand for the knowledge is high, but not enough people know how to administer it
ReplyDelete