Nutriovia

Michelle Andrews

When a woman collapsed on an escalator at Buffalo airport in New York last June, Phil Cloud knew what to do. He and another passerby put his apartment on his back and checked his pulse (light) and his breathing (shallow and erratic). Then she stopped breathing completely. Realizing that she could have a cardiac arrest, Cloud immediately started to make thoracic compressions, pressing hard and quickly in the center of her chest, while others nearby called 911 and ran to obtain an automated external defibrillator. A few seconds after receiving a shock from the AED, the woman opened her eyes. As the airport’s rescue team arrived a few minutes later, it was aware and capable of speaking with the rescuers.

“I never want to feel helpless,” said Clute, who turned out to Buffalo that evening during a work trip for her engineering work in Denver. After an incident several years earlier in which he did not know how to help a woman who collapsed in his gymnasium, he took a university course to be certified emergency medical answering machinewhich can provide basic survival interventions.

The woman who collapsed was lucky: she lost consciousness in a public place where passers -by knew how to help her. Most people are not as lucky. In the United States, a lack of training and preparation to face this relatively common medical emergency contributes to thousands of deaths per year.

According to the American Heart Association, more than 350,000 heart stops occur outside a hospital establishment in the United States, according to the American Heart Association. In 9 out of 10 cases, the person dies because the aid does not happen quickly enough. Every minute passing without intervention reduces the chances of survival by 10%. But if someone immediately receives cardiopulmonary resuscitation and an AED shock, if necessary, their side ratings can double or even triple.

According to the Heart Association, less than half of people get this immediate help. Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly stops, often because the electrical system of the heart works badly. About 70% of heart stops occur at home. But even if someone collapses in a public place and that an ambulance is called immediately, it takes About eight minutesOn average, for emergency staff to arrive. In rural areas, it can take much more time.

When someone has a cardiac arrest, he often needs an electric shock from a DEA to start his heart again. These portable devices analyze the rhythm of the heart and ask the user to provide a shock, if necessary, through pads placed on the victim’s chest.

But although many states require that DEAs be available in public places such as airports, shopping centers and schools, they are often not easy to spot. A study of data from 2019 to 2022 revealed that after a cardiac arrest in a public place, passers -by used an AED 7% of the time And made the RCR 42% of the time.

The most complete resource to identify DEAs is a non -profit foundation called Pulsepoint, which has recorded 185,000 DEA in 5,400 communities In the United States, according to Shannon Smith, communications vice-president at Pulsepoint. In the event of a request, the organization will help a community build its AED register and connect it free of charge to the 911 service in the region.

Pulsepoint recently launched a national AED register To continue this effort.

Through A companion applicationUsers trained in the RCR can volunteer to be alerted to potential cardiac arrests at around a quarter of a mile when calls come into the community’s emergency interventions. The application also identifies the DEA recorded nearby.

“Pulsepoint is the closest thing we have to a national register,” said Elijah White, president of the Zoll Current Care Technologies, a main DEA manufacturer. The company has provided location information for all its DEAs in Pulsepoint. However, Pulsepoint only recorded a fraction of DEA in the country. “It’s just a start,” said White.

Other factors can also prevent passers -by from entering to help. They can lack training or confidence in RCR, or fear of responsibility in the event of a problem.

Responsibility should not be a concern, in general. Every 50 states and Washington, DC, have laws on “good Samaritans” which Protect passers -by against legal responsibility If they intervene in a medical emergency in good faith.

But training can be A serious barrier. A study revealed that only 18% of people said they received RCR training in the previous two years, a key calendar for skills maintenance. Two -thirds of people said they were trained at some point.

A way to stimulate training is make compulsoryAnd many states require students to receive training in RCR to obtain their diploma. But even if 86% of high school students said they received training, only 58% said they knew how to apply their skills, and a similar proportion said they knew how to use a DEA.

“We have work to do,” said Dianne Atkins, a longtime pediatric and volunteer cardiologist of the AHA, who said that high school training is an absolute priority for AHA.

Other countries have priority to training their residents in the use and RCR of the AED for many years, with some success.

In Denmark, such training has been necessary to obtain a driving license since the 2000s, and college students must also be trained. And in a survey, 45% of the population said they received training via their workplace. In the study, 81% of respondents for the general public said they had been trained in RCR and 54% in the way of using a DEA.

Norway has given first aid training in primary schools since 1961 and has required training in RCR to receive a driving license. Ninety percent of the population reported that they are trained in RCR.

In the United States, Many training courses are available, online and in person, who only take a few hours. For someone who has never acquired basic skills in life, training can be revealing. This journalist not driven before was surprised to discover how someone should press a model’s chest to correctly make the RCR: 100 to 120 compressions per minute at a depth of at least 2 inches.

The most important thing is that ordinary people know the basics enough so that “they feel confident to call 911 and push strong and quickly on someone’s chest,” said Audrey Blewer, assistant professor of family medicine and community health at the Duke University School of Medicine who has published many studies on RPR and the use of AED of Duke University. “This does not require a recent certification and training card.”

In an emergency, the distributors of the 911 can also play a crucial role in people ‘walking by doing the RCR and by operating an AED, said David Hiltz, director of the Coeursafe volunteer program Communities Citizen CPR FoundationA non -profit organization that strives to improve the survival of cardiac judgments thanks to training and education.

Phil Cloud remained in touch with Rebecca Sada, the woman who collapsed at Buffalo airport that day when she was returning from a trip to visit her daughter. Sada, who had no history of heart problems before his cardiac arrest, now has an automated defibrillator implanted in his chest to stabilize an electrical problem previously not diagnosed with her heart. She and her husband had Cloud for dinner, and they are friends for life, she said.

Another change that occurred following Sada’s cardiac arrest: she and her husband were certified in RCR and AED.

“Now, if we needed to help someone on the road, we could do so,” said Sada.

Kff Health News is a national editorial hall that produces in -depth journalism on health problems and is one of the main KFF operating programs – an independent source of research, survey and independent journalism. Learn more about Kff.

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