American Heart Month: Saving Lives

By Tanesha Hayes, Volunteer

February is all about health and love! It’s what we call, American Heart Month. The month was created to raise awareness and combat the disturbing fact that more than half the deaths in the U.S were caused by cardiovascular disease. This disease can affect both your health and social aspects of your life. Your exercise patterns, what you eat, family involvement, employment options and ability to have fun (say goodbye to crazy rides at amusement parks), are the most common aspects of people’s lives effected by cardiovascular disease. Not to mention, living with cardiovascular disease decreases life expectancy and increases your chance of depression. Heart health not only affects you but everyone close to you!

I encourage every person to take initiative and combat cardiovascular disease. You can do this by learning more about the heart, living a healthy life style, and preparing yourself to handle any cardiac crisis that could happen.

The American Red Cross understands the importance of heart health and that cardiac attacks could affect anyone within moment’s notice. Would you know what to do if someone near you needed saving? After taking the CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation)/AED (Automatic defibrillator) course, you will be trained and certified to save anyone during an emergency.

The CPR/AED course teaches students how to save a life during a cardiac or breathing emergency. To be more specific, this skill can be useful for saving an adult or child in cases of a heart attack, near drowning, or when a person’s heartbeat has stopped. Reid Heiser is a former student of the Red Cross’s CPR/AED course. The 17-year-old saved the life of Jim Hammer when he collapsed at the recreation center where Reid worked. This incident was unexpected and happened one week after completing his Red Cross CPR training. Both Reid and Jim are thankful for the CPR training and are now friends!

This month is about the love of our hearts- and others. Like Reid, you never know when you’ll have to perform a lifesaving act, but you’ll be proud when you know how!

If you are interested in learning more about the CPR/AED course, check out the Red Cross website.



Sources: 
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-3566-american-heart-month-1964
https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/cpr
https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/aed
https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/aed/using-an-aed
https://sites.google.com/a/cornell.edu/cardiovascular-disease-in-the-united-states/social-impacts

CPR/AED Awareness Week: The Basics of How to Perform CPR and Use an AED

By Hailie Duenkel, Volunteer

June 1st – 7th is National CPR and AED Awareness Week. 

The Red Cross offers CPR training and AED course options for schools, employees, healthcare providers, and individuals both weekdays and weekends. Whatever class you decide to take, you can be confident you will leave the certification class feeling confident to accomplish life-saving resuscitation methods when someone goes into cardiac arrest.

CPR Training
CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) is an emergency process performed when someone’s heart stops beating. Performing CPR can triple the chances of the victim’s survival. Here are some basic concepts you will experience in a training course:

• Call 911 and ensure the area is safe for you to approach the victim.
• Check for breathing and tilt their head back to clear the airway.
• If the person is not breathing, begin performing CPR:
• Place your hands one on top of the other in the middle of the chest.
• Push at a hard, fast past with a compression of about 2 inches deep.
• Distribute 2 rescue breaths. 
• Continue these steps until the person starts breathing or until a trained medical responder arrives.

*Steps are different for a child or infant and are described here.

AED Training
When CPR is proving ineffective, an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) can be used to resuscitate victims when they go into cardiac arrest. An electric shock is sent to the heart to resume a heartbeat. An AED device can often be found in most offices and public buildings and having the certification to use one can prove detrimental in emergency situations. Below are steps in using an AED machine:

• Turn on the AED machine and follow the audio commands. (The machine will tell you step-by-step instructions on what to do!)
• Place AED pads on the victim’s bare chest where the machine indicates.
• Ensure you and anyone else present are not touching the victim.
• Press the “analyze” button for the machine to analyze the person’s heart.
• If a shock is needed, the machine will tell you. Then press the “shock” button.
• Begin CPR after the shock is delivered.

The best way to deal with an emergency is to prepare for it. With topnotch instructors and recognized online courses, you can be certain you will receive the best training to keep you on your toes in a crisis situation. Go online to sign up for a CPR or AED training course so next time you can do more than just call 911. You can save a life.

National CPR/AED Awareness Week: Step-by-step CPR Guide

By Carly Flumer, Volunteer

The first week of June is National CPR/AED Awareness Week, and the Red Cross wants you to know how to perform CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) when an emergency occurs. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide that you can print and take with you.

Before giving CPR:

1. Check the scene to make sure it’s safe. Then tap the person and shout, “Are you okay,” to make sure that the person needs help.
2. Call 911 for assistance. If help is required, call (or ask a bystander to call) 911, then send someone to get an AED. If an AED is not available or there is no bystander to assist, stay with the victim and begin giving assistance.
3. Open the airway by having the person lay on his or her back. Tilt the head back slightly to lift the chin.
4. Listen carefully for breathing, but no more than 10 seconds. (Occasional gasping sounds do not equal breathing). If there’s no breathing, begin CPR.

 Red Cross CPR Steps

1. Push hard and fast by placing your hands, one on top of the other, in the middle of the chest. Use your body weight to help you administer 30 compressions that are at least two inches deep and delivered at a rate of 100 compressions per minute.
2. With the person’s head tilted back slightly and the chin lifted, deliver rescue breaths by pinching the nose shut and placing your moth over the person’s mouth to make a complete seal. Blow into the person’s mouth to make the chest rise. Deliver two rescue breaths and then continue compressions. (Note: If the chest doesn’t rise with the initial rescue breath, re-tilt the head before delivering the second breath. If the chest doesn’t rise with the second breath, then the person may be choking. After each subsequent set of 30 chest compressions, and before attempting breath, look for an object and remove it, if  seen.) 
3. Continue CPR steps. Keep performing cycles of chest compressions and breathing until the person begins breathing, an AED becomes available, or an EMS or a trained medical responder arrives. (Note: End the cycle if the scene becomes unsafe or you can’t continue performing CPR due to exhaustion.)

To find a CPR training course, visit here: https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/cpr/cpr-training