National CPR & AED Awareness Week
Did you know that sudden cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death in this country and that most cardiac arrests happen at home? Would you know what to do if someone needed help?
Every year the Red Cross trains millions of people in CPR and how to use an AED. Communities are safer across the country because people are trained in these lifesaving techniques. Online and in-class courses are offered. Red Cross training and certification meets the needs of workplace responders, professional rescuers, school staff and healthcare providers as well as the general public.
Red Cross training can help you gain the skills and confidence to act in an emergency and to save lives. You’ll find additional information and can enter your zip code to find training in your area by going to the CPR and AED training section of our website.
The Red Cross can help you or your organization with facilitating the purchase of an AED, accessories, and service and maintenance plans.
You can also download the free, Red Cross First Aid App, to have instant access to expert advice wherever and whenever you need it.
Don't forget that Midway Fire Rescue offers a Community Training Center. The center provides CPR & AED Training along with first aid.
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR): Fact Sheet
Anyone can learn CPR – and everyone should! Sadly, 70 percent of Americans may feel helpless to act during a cardiac emergency because they either do not know how to administer CPR or their training has significantly lapsed. This alarming statistic could hit close to home, because home is exactly where 88 percent of cardiac arrests occur.
Put Very Simply: The life you save with CPR is mostly likely to be someone you love.
WHY LEARN CPR? Cardiac arrests are more common than you think, and they can happen to anyone at any time.
Nearly 383,000 out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrests occur annually, and 88 percent of cardiac arrests occur at home.
Many victims appear healthy with no known heart disease or other risk factors.
Sudden cardiac arrest is not the same as a heart attack.
Sudden cardiac arrest occurs when electrical impulses in the heart become rapid or chaotic, which causes the heart to suddenly stop beating.
A heart attack occurs when the blood supply to part of the heart muscle is blocked. A heart attack may cause cardiac arrest.
WHO CAN YOU SAVE WITH CPR? The life you save with CPR is mostly likely to be a loved one.
Four out of five cardiac arrests happen at home.
Statistically speaking, if called on to administer CPR in an emergency, the life you save is likely to be someone at home: a child, a spouse, a parent or a friend.
African-Americans are almost twice as likely to experience cardiac arrest at home, work or in another public location than Caucasians, and their survival rates are twice as poor as for Caucasians.
WHY TAKE ACTION?
Failure to act in a cardiac emergency can lead to unnecessary deaths.
Effective bystander CPR provided immediately after sudden cardiac arrest can double or triple a victim’s chance of survival, but only 32 percent of cardiac arrest victims get CPR from a bystander.
Sadly, less than eight percent of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside the hospital survive.
The American Heart Association trains more than 12 million people in CPR annually, to equip Americans with the skills they need to perform bystander CPR.
If you would like to participate in a class or get more information please call the number below, if no answer please leave a detailed message.
Contact:
Battalion Chief Carr Gilmore
Phone: (843) 545-3620
