What is sudden cardiac arrest?
- Sudden cardiac arrest is most often caused by coronary heart disease resulting in a heart attack.
- Cardiac arrest can also be induced by trauma, an overdose, or drowning.
- When a victim suffers sudden cardiac arrest, blood circulation ceases, which prevents the flow of oxygen to the body. Without oxygen to the brain, the victim can lose consciousness and absent or abnormal breathing ensues. This successive process occurs in only a few seconds – and after the first five minutes with no CPR, the victim will likely suffer brain damage or death.
- The purpose of CPR is to maintain or restore the flow of oxygenated blood to the brain and heart.
- Performing CPR involves a series of chest compressions and rescue breathing on a victim.
- EMS teams treat nearly 300,000 victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) each year nationwide – but the first few minutes of response are critical and often the EMS teams cannot arrive in time.
- Fewer than eight percent of OHCA victims survive.
- An OHCA victim’s chances of survival double or triple if a bystander is trained in CPR.
- Only one-in-four OHCA victims receive bystander CPR.
Posts
One Response to "CPR Week: What and Why"