Saving a life is in your hands

Picture this: you see someone collapse in cardiac arrest at work or on the street. You wish you could help, but you don’t know what to do. Wouldn’t you like to learn how to help save a life? Luckily, learning CPR is easy. The Heart and Stroke Foundation urges all Canadians to learn CPR and the new Heart&Stroke CPR Anytime™ for Family & Friends™  kit can be that you can use to learn at home. “We all have the tools to help save a life,” says Sandra Zambon, the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s National CPR Anytime Manager. “Learning CPR, whatever way you can, will empower you to use those tools and that could mean helping to save someone’s life.”

CPR is used in a variety of situations – but especially when a cardiac arrest occurs. That’s when the heart suddenly stops beating, cutting off the flow of blood and oxygen to vital organs. Approximately 40,000 cardiac arrests occur in Canada every year – the majority out of the hospital setting. Performing CPR when you see someone in cardiac arrest could mean giving that person a second chance at life. It can help keep someone alive until emergency medical personnel arrive on the scene.

Learning CPR has never been more important. A recent study, funded in part by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, showed that the rates of survival after cardiac arrest vary widely across Canada. The survival rates in the Canadian cities studied included 5.3% in Ottawa, 5.5% in Toronto and 9.7% in Vancouver. But Zambon says this speaks to the need to increase the number of people who know CPR in order to help improve the survival rates across all regions. “The bystanders are there before emergency services can be, and that’s why everyone needs to learn CPR. The more people who know and use this skill, the better anyone’s chance of surviving until emergency medical personnel can arrive with a defibrillator and help shock  that person’s heart back into a normal rhythm,” she says.

How to learn at home
Not everyone has the time to take a CPR course, or the money to pay for their whole family to attend one. But the fun and interactive Heart&Stroke CPR Anytime™ for Family & Friends™  kit has everything you need – including a practice mannequin and instructional DVD – to make learning the core skills of CPR quick and easy for the whole family.

The kit provides everything you need to learn, says Zambon. “It’s been thoroughly tested and we know that people  can learn the necessary skills of CPR with this simple resource,” she adds. “We encourage anyone who gets a kit to share it. Statistics show that for every one kit purchased, two to three more people learn CPR from it.”

Click here to order the CPR Anytime kit and learn CPR at home

Where to Find CPR Courses
The Heart and Stroke Foundation establishes the Canadian guidelines for CPR and emergency cardiac care. To learn more about courses please go the links below:

CPR courses
CPR training

Do anything you can
Performing CPR helps to keep the blood circulating to keep vital organs alive until EMS arrives. Once a person goes into cardiac arrest, they only have three to four minutes before the brain begins to suffer permanent damage.  

A person may be in cardiac arrest when he or she is:

• Suddenly not responsive, especially when called or tapped on the shoulder.
• Not breathing when you tilt the head back and check for at least five seconds.

What can you do if you think they’re in cardiac arrest? The Chain of Survival, a protocol advocated by the Heart and Stroke Foundation, outlines the key “links” that have to be connected in order for someone in cardiac arrest to have the best chance for survival. The links in the chain include: Early Access (to emergency medical services by calling 9-1-1 or your local emergency number), Early CPR, Early Defibrillation and Early Advanced Care (by medically trained paramedics and emergency personnel). Says Zambon “If you can do something – anything – you are giving that person the best chance at survival. And that is a pretty amazing opportunity.”

Canadians who witness an adult suddenly collapse and are unsure of their ability to perform CPR effectively should call 9-1-1 or their local emergency number to get emergency responders en route. Then, they should try to perform Hands-Only CPR until emergency personnel arrive. Hands-Only CPR means pushing down hard and fast on the centre of the chest at a rate of 100 compressions per minute without using mouth-to-mouth. However, using chest compressions plus giving breaths is the best known way to increase a person’s chance of survival. HSF recommends everyone learn CPR and the Heart&Stroke CPR kit makes that easy to do with family and friends.

Learn about cardiac arrest warning signs.

Read the Foundation’s Position Statement on Public Access to AEDs.

Posted November 2008.