Their Heart is in Your Hands

Article by healthybalance.com staff
Posted on April 14, 2008

Imagine you are walking down the street, shopping or perhaps on your way to lunch, when suddenly a stranger nearby grips his chest and collapses in front of you. What would you do? More importantly, what should you do? Of course, your phone is already dialing 911, but what happens in those moments before the paramedics arrive?

The American Heart Association has issued a public advisory that answers this question. The advisory urges all people, regardless of having formal CPR training or not, to take immediate action in emergencies such as this. You don’t need training to save the life of a person whose heart has stopped. The message is simple—if you see someone collapse after a heart attack, call 911. Next, perform hands-only CPR: push hard and fast in the middle of their chest continuously until medical professionals arrive.

Dr. Michael R. Sayre, associate professor of emergency medicine at Ohio State University and lead author of the advisory, says, “We want people to act no matter what.”

CPR can more than double the survival rate of a person who goes into cardiac arrest, but on average only about a third of people who collapse receive CPR from a bystander. As a general guide, he advises that you aim for 100 pushes a minute, with enough force to depress the chest two inches. However, he adds, “There is no need to use a metronome and a ruler.”

Since about 75 percent of cardiac arrest cases result from heart attacks, hands-only CPR can, in many cases, save a person’s life. But, the advisory explains that this may not apply to CPR performed on children or for adults suffering from the other 25% of possible complications (for example, drowning or drug overdose). These other emergencies often necessitate rescue breathing in addition to chest compression. That’s why everyone should enroll in a CPR class!

Studies with animals as well as humans have provided incontrovertible evidence that hands-only CPR is generally just as effective as CPR performed with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by someone who has been trained. “If you do nothing, the person will die,” says Dr. Sayre, “and you can’t make them worse than dead.”

For more heart-saver information, check out these web links:

•Hands-Only Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: A Call to Action for Bystander Response
•American Red Cross CPR Course Information
•Learn Quick CPR