CPR,
or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is an emergency life-saving procedure used
on someone who is not breathing and has no pulse. A trained rescuer fills
the victim's lungs with air and administers chest compressions to pump blood
from the heart through the body. Thousands of lives are saved each year
through the timely use of CPR. CPR is a procedure that must be properly and
promptly performed until emergency medical help arrives.
If you
have sudden cardiac arrest outside of a hospital -- as 225,000 Americans do
every year -- you have only a 2 percent to 5 percent chance of being
successfully revived, the AHA says. Your chance of survival improves if
someone gives you CPR four to six minutes after you collapse and you receive
advanced cardiac life support, such as an electric shock to the heart
provided by an automated external defibrillator (AED), within minutes.
Who Should Know CPR?
Certain people need to know how to perform CPR to do their jobs. Medical
professionals - from nurses and doctors to paramedics and emergency medicine
technicians - must know CPR. Lifeguards, child-care workers, school coaches,
childcare providers, etc. Many parents don't know how to perform CPR on
their children or babies. Other adults who have family members with medical
conditions such as heart disease sometimes know CPR, too.
Many
people - maybe you - may want to learn how to do CPR just in case you need
to use it some day. You can never tell when a medical emergency will happen
and it feels good to know that you could help. |