At United States cardiac arrest represents over 350,000 deaths every year. This is more deaths than breast cancer, lung cancer, stroke or aids. Can happen to anyone, regardless of previous history of heart problems.
By the time of cardiac arrest the average adult will experience brain death with 4-6 minutes after the event, if not start CPR. With early CPR and use of an AED survival rate can be anywhere from 35%-75% depending on how fast an AEA arrives on the scene. Unfortunately, the average EMS response time in the u.s. is between 8 and 11 minutes. This means that if we rely on EMS system is the first that will help in a cardiac emergency survival chances are minimal (about 5%).
The other problem I run into is that the average response to apostalenta of hospital emergencies is only about 20%, which means that there is an 80% chance, no one will help you if you have an out of hospital emergency.
By learning CPR and first aid, you can become an effective rescuer, greatly increasing the chances of survival for someone who has a life threatening emergency. Many people worry about lawsuits when helping others with CPR. However, each State has something called a good Samaritan law (http://www.heartsafeam.com/pages/faq_good_samaritan), which offers legal protection when you save someone's life.
The other thing I worry about is blood bourne pathogens from mouth to mouth CPR. There are new methods, now that may include arms, only people cpr (http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/CPRAndECC/HandsOnlyCPR/Hand ...) to give it a better chance of survival than to do nothing.
To give the best chance of survival in a cardiac emergency take a CPR and first aid class. Next step CPR and training is now hold classes in a new location in Denver, Colorado, to try and better serve the Communities that need to be better trained to save lives. Our next class in the new location will take place on July 27, 2013. Register here (http://www.nextstepcpr.com/class-schedule/)
