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CPR Awareness Week Kicks Off June 1

CPR Awareness Week kicks off June 1

(WSPA)–June 1-7 is CPR and AED Awareness Week.  It’s aimed to raise awareness and numbers of people trained to help increase bystander response rates in cardiac emergencies.

Here’s a fact sheet from the American Heart Association:

CPR & SUDDEN CARDIAC ARREST

Heart attack, cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac death are often used as if they are synonymous, which is incorrect.

  • Heart Attack: occurs when the blood flow supply to the heart muscle through a coronary artery is severely reduced or cut off completely.  Typically, this is from a clot, leading to damage to the affected muscle.
  • Cardiac Arrest: occurs when the heart has an abnormal rhythm, which causes the heart to quiver and stop pumping blood to the brain, lungs and other organs.  A heart attack increases the risk for cardiac arrest, but most do not lead to cardiac arrest.  Cardiac arrest can happen in the absence of a heart attack.
  • Sudden Cardiac Death: an unexpected death due to a heart problem.  It presents soon (generally within one hour) after adverse heart symptoms begin in a person who may or may not have heart

Cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in the United States.  Each year, more than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the United States.  Further, more than 200,000 people annually have a cardiac arrest while in the hospital.

WHY LEARN CPR?

When a person has a cardiac arrest, survival depends on immediately getting CPR from someone nearby.

About 90 percent of people who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests die.  CPR, especially if performed immediately, can double or triple a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival.

BE THE DIFFERENCE FOR SOMEONE YOU LOVE

If you are called on to give CPR in an emergency, you will most likely be trying to save the life of someone you love:  a child, a spouse, a parent or a friend.

  • Seventy percent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen in homes.
  • About 46 percent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims get CPR from a bystander.
  • African-Americans are almost twice as likely to experience cardiac arrest at home, work or in another public location compared to Caucasians, and their survival rates are twice as low.

TAKE ACTION

The American Heart Association trains more than 19 million people in CPR annually.  To find a course, visit heart.org/findacourse.  To learn more about CPR, visit heart.org/cpr.  To purchase a CPR Anytime® Kit, visit shopheart.org/cpr-anytime.

Story Credit: http://wspa.com/2017/05/31/cpr-awareness-week-kicks-off-june-1/