“Anyone can learn CPR and everyone should”

  • Sudden cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Many of these lost lives can be saved if a person nearby knew how to do CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) or simply hands- only CPR.
  • You will be surprised to know that it is easy to perform and can be done by anyone. There is no need for any knowledge reading science i.e.  it can be done even by an illiterates . It just need strong will on your part to know it.
  • Sudden cardiac arrest is not the same as a heart attack.
    • Sudden cardiac arrest occurs when electrical impulses in the heart become rapid or chaotic, which causes the heart to suddenly stop beating.
    • A heart attack occurs when the blood supply to part of the heart muscle is blocked. A heart attack may cause cardiac arrest. 

Reasons why you should know it

  • It saves many lives should be a good enough reason for you to learn it. Chances of a person surviving a sudden cardiac arrest increase significantly if CPR is started early. Effective bystander CPR provided immediately after sudden cardiac arrest can double or triple a victim’s chance of survival, but unfortunately very few cardiac arrest victims get CPR from a bystander in India.
  • More than 80% of heart attack occurs at home, so chances are you will be saving a person’s life that you love. Put very simply: The life you save with CPR is mostly likely to be someone you love.
  • CPR is not done by many due to various concerns like doing harm to person, doing harm to oneself, reason of hygiene, chances of getting infected or getting into legal hassles. But once you know the proper technique you will realize, you can only do well to a dying person without risking your health. Don’t be afraid; your actions can only help. 
  • Giving mouth to mouth resuscitation is not necessary: Most common reason why people are afraid of giving CPR is that they might have to give mouth to mouth breath. Guidelines in 2010 changed which clearly says that without formal training you should attempt hands-only CPR.  I strongly feel, all of us should know how to do chest compression even without mouth breathing. In many adults hands-only CPR has been found to be equally effective. (Although in children it is different and reasons of sudden cardiac arrest are different)
  • Hand-only CPR is very easy to learn: It can be easily performed
  • Unnecessary deaths can be prevented which occur due to poor response to cardiac emergency.
  • You can learn how to give Hands-Only CPR by watching a simple one-minute video at heart.org/cpr. (http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/CPRAndECC/CPR_UCM_001118_SubHomePage.jsp)  (In India, call 102 instead of 911)

Once you have learned CPR, You can teach others too. 

Give 5 people you care about the power to save lives by equipping them to act quickly in a crisis.Don’t be afraid; your actions can only help.If you see an unresponsive adult who is not breathing, call 102(call for help from others nearby) and push hard and fast on the center of the chest.

But before starting CPR make sure your life is not in danger (eg. No moving vehicle nearby, no chances of accident)

SEE A VIDEO, SAVE A LIFE

You can prepare yourself to act in an emergency by simply viewing the Hands-Only™ CPR instructional video (http://cpr.heart.org/AHAECC/CPRAndECC/Programs/HandsOnlyCPR/UCM_475516_CPR-Demos-and-Videos.jsp). 

(In India, call 102 instead of 911)The American Heart Association has recommended Hands-Only  CPR for adults since 2008.Feel free to contact any nearby hospital to learn CPR.

Regards