Be ready to save a life: Learn CPR
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Last week was National Emergency Medical Services Week, a fact that most of us likely overlooked.
But in the information about the week, some important messages rose to the top that are worth repeating — again and again — especially the importance of learning CPR.
The American Heart Association tells us more than 326,000 Americans have a cardiac arrest outside the hospital each year. Although CPR from someone near- by can increase the chance of survival by two- to three-fold, fewer than half receive it. That is a statistic that needs changing. In King County, the picture is better than that: about 70% of all out-of-hospital cardiac arrests received CPR from people nearby. Still, there is room for improvement.
It used to be that everyone who took a CPR class learned how to do chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. But now experts recommend an easier approach — performing chest compressions only, in what is often called “bystander CPR.” It is effective because even after a person experiences cardiac arrest, typically there is still oxygen in their blood.
“We’ve learned it’s much more important to pump that blood to the brain than spend the extra seconds or minutes trying to give the patient more oxygen,” said Dr. Kei Ouchi, an emergency physician at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “So now it’s compression, compression, compression.”
On Vashon, there are two easy ways to learn this method: take a class through Vashon Island Fire & Rescue (VIFR) or order “CPR in a Box” from King County.
VIFR will offer its next class at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 13. The one-hour course, called Friends and Family CPR, is hands-only CPR and will be taught by VIFR volunteer EMT Don Cheyette. VIFR officials say the class is ideal for students, new parents, grandparents, babysitters and others interested in learning how they can help save a life — in other words, most of us.
King County’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Division recently developed CPR in a Box. It is intended for businesses and other organizations and provides a self-guided refresher orientation to CPR and automated external defibrillator (AED) use. Typically, King County offers it after a group has registered an AED with the EMS Division, but it’s for any organization that asks, according to spokesman James Apa. The county loans the kits out for a few weeks at a time; they include a CPR manikin, AED trainer, instructional video and portable DVD player, kit instructions and CPR completion cards, among other materials.
Businesses and organizations can use the kits during safety committee or department meetings, and as an opportunity to promote hands-only CPR education during health and wellness campaigns, county officials say.
Either way, by taking a class at the fire department or through CPR in a Box, brushing up on CPR skills is a good idea, one that VIFR Chief Charlie Krimmert says the department fully endorses.
“We encourage everyone to learn CPR,” he said, noting that people who have heart attacks mostly have them at home and that people who learn CPR typically use it on someone they love.
The cost of the class at VIFR is $15; for those who need a class that will provide a CPR card, see the department website at vifr.org or call the office at (206) 463-2405. People interested in CPR in a Box should email Laura.Miccile@kingcounty.gov.
