When you are shopping this holiday season, you suddenly find a
shopper collapsed in front of you, would you know what to do next? Would the CPR
courses come to your mind immediately? Or would you call 911 and stand back in
fear of doing something wrong?
In fact, your answer might vary between life and death of the
victim!
When the heart of a particular person stops beating suddenly, it’s
obvious that the person is suffering from a sudden cardiac arrest. However, a
sudden cardiac arrest is not as same as a heart attack. Cardiac arrest can happen
to any person, at any time, at any age, without any warning symptom.
Sudden cardiac arrest is an epidemic. The mortality rate of cardiac arrest is three
times more than the rate of heart attack. Each year, more than 300,000 US
people are killed by sudden cardiac arrest, which is more than the death rate
of breast cancer, lung cancer and AIDS patients.
But the death consequence of a sudden cardiac arrest cannot be
expected. In fact, it’s the only deadly medical condition in which the quick
thinking ability of bystanders comes handy. Here are top five factors that can
save a person suffering from a sudden cardiac arrest:
- Quick recognition and contact 911
- Chest compression's with or without mouth-to-mouth
- Defibrillation
- Advanced cardiac support
- Essential hospital care
Note: The first three factors do not rely on medical
professionals, but on bystanders and first responders
Almost any person can do chest compressions, which are very much
effective choice like CPR (chest compressions with mouth-to-mouth ventilation) for
many cases of sudden cardiac arrest. This can be learned easily and all you
need to enroll into an online CPR class for your better knowledge on immediate
action when finding a person suffering from sudden cardiac arrest.
It’s true that using an automated external defibrillators kept in an
encased box with a sign ‘AED’ are quite common throughout airports, malls and
several public places. Anyone can use this equipment, but you are more prepared
if you have learned about the AED in a CPR certification course online.
In fact, there must be a question arises in your mind that if
chest compressions are easy to learn, then why does only one out of every three
sudden cardiac arrest victim get immediate help? Simply, people are afraid of causing
more harm than good! Therefore, a wide public health education campaign to
replace lack of information about these life-saving techniques is required.
Until then, you can do your job. If someone collapses in front of
you in the mall or nearer to you, call 911, put your phone on speaker and start
doing chest compressions at a rate of atleast100 compressions per a minute. Ask
nearby people to get an automated external defibrillator if available. When the
equipment comes, let other bystanders do the chest compressions, while you should
open and use the automated external defibrillator. When you’re done, paramedics
will be on their way to do the rest!
Do you want to get certified today? Think about it thoroughly, in
the time it took you to read this blog, four more people could die
unnecessarily because of sudden cardiac arrest. They might be alive if a bystander
has the knowledge on what to do next. Hence, it’s time to join an online CPR class offered by the American Safety Training Institute to get certified for
saving individuals suffering from sudden cardiac arrests around you!
