By Vallari Shah Disclaimer: This article does not certify you to conduct CPR. Please review the official cpr resources for more information, or take a cpr course to become a trained cpr. We encourage you find a training on https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/cpr Did you know that every year, there are 450,000 Americans who die from a cardiac arrest? And did you also know that 350,000 of those Americans have a cardiac arrest outside of the hospital every year? This number continues to get bigger, making it critical for more and more people to get trained to perform CPR. Every year, the American Heart Association educates more than 22 million people globally to learn about first aid, CPR and other life saving techniques for people who desperately need help. In this article, I am mainly going to fill you in on what CPR is, the importance of it, as well as include some of my own opinions of first aid in this club. CPR is an important training that everyone should have. It can save a person’s life, whether they are a stranger or a family member. Imagine if someone in your house collapsed on the floor and all you could do was call 911 and pray for help to come soon. Now think about the same situation, but now you have CPR training. You see someone collapse, remain calm, call 911 and begin CPR, which could potentially save his/her life. How great would it feel to know that you can be kind and help people around you by engaging in a training course? Before we get into too much detail, let me walk you through what CPR is. CPR stands for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and should only be used in emergencies, as it can be life threatening otherwise. When you first notice a person you suspect is experiencing cardiac arrest on the floor, walk up to them and tap their shoulders while constantly asking if they are okay. You should then check the scene around him, making sure they are safe, before instructing people near you to call 911, find an AED or complete other tasks. It is crucial that you understand never to leave the patient by themselves. If you are alone, call 911, but don’t leave the victim, not even to get an AED or another item. After 911 is called and the scene is overlooked for safety reasons, CPR can begin. You should compress the center of the patient’s chest and perform 30 compressions followed by two rescue breaths. These breaths give you and the victim a chance to breathe, before continuing another 30 compressions. Make sure to follow to compress the victim’s heart at a rate of 100-120 beats per second or to the tune of “Staying Alive.” Continue to repeat all the above compression exercises until help arrives and be sure to hand the exercises over to another person if you get too exhausted to continue. Remember your life is important too! Now that you have a brief idea of CPR and it’s life changing ramifications, I want to express my opinion on further incorporating CPR training into our Red Cross club. First aid is a common topic in our club discussions, but I believe that not everyone trains them or educates themselves enough in CPR. Like I mentioned earlier, CPR is beneficial and can save a life a lot of times. Not enough people know this, so let me make my point more clear and say that CPR should be required by all Red Cross volunteers, as well as everyone else, regardless of their involvement in the Red Cross. Why is it that in today’s day and age, enough people can’t understand that life is short and worth saving? Why can’t we all understand that every single life is precious? If there is something you can do to help protect a life or take an action in protecting a life, why can’t you take that leap forward and feel confident that you are doing the right thing? Personally, I have a very strong opinion on the topic of CPR, but I want to hear your opinion too. The numbers of deaths due to cardiac arrests and other problems similar to that are growing, increasing rapidly. We, as a community, need to reinforce the idea of CPR and helping others, whenever we get the chance to, before it is too late. Sources
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