CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION: Learn to save lives using 2 steps

CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION:
Learn to save lives using 2 steps

By Noel Silas Savarimuthu, Emergency Medical Technician, Malaysian Red Crescent       

POLLING stations have closed and the counting process has begun. You are sitting at a cafe waiting for the results to roll in. The atmosphere is intense. As the expected and unexpected results come in, emotions run high and suddenly the person at the next table clenches his chest, falls to the ground and becomes unconscious.
The victim has stopped breathing and his heart has stopped beating. He has about four to six minutes before brain damage begins to occur. Do you know what to do?
The victim would have a 30 per cent or more chance of survival if there was a bystander trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR.
Are you trained in CPR? Ask the person next to you if he or she is trained in CPR. If the answer is negative you are both in trouble.
Would you like to learn CPR now? While a full set CPR syllabus would require about four hours of training, "Hands Only CPR" technique needs a couple of minutes to master.
In 2008, the American Heart Association (AHA) released "Hands Only CPR" as there were concerns about CPR-trained bystander refusing to perform the lifesaving skills on a complete stranger, fearing possible transmission of disease from the victim to the rescuer when mouth-to-mouth breathing is applied.
AHA then proceeded to encourage the training of Hands Only CPR technique as it is easy to learn and only has two steps to perform.
In the event of a collapse, cardiac arrest, drowning, electrocution or any other reason where you find a victim has fallen unconscious and is not breathing, make sure it is safe to touch the victim and immediately perform the following two lifesaving steps:
CALL 999 and request for an ambulance; and,
PLACE the heel of your palms with your hands clenched, in the middle of the victim's chest and deliver 100 compressions a minute, press hard and fast. Do not stop until the paramedics arrive and tell you to stop.
Compressing the chest hard and fast moves the victim's oxygenated blood to the brains and keeps the brain cells alive while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
Even if Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were paramedics on duty at a hospital near you, they will never be able to reach the victim in time before irreversible brain damage begins in a time span as short as four minutes after the collapse. The victim's only chance of survival would come from the actions of the people nearest to him.


Read more: CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION: Learn to save lives using 2 steps - Letters to the Editor - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/cardiopulmonary-resuscitation-learn-to-save-lives-using-2-steps-1.271530#ixzz2Y9B23tdu