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!
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.
