CPR To The Rescue

Last year, on an ordinary July afternoon, a Palisades family like many others was outside enjoying the warm summer air. Several members were sitting on the porch reading the paper, some were chatting, while others were working in the garden. Those in the garden inadvertently disturbed some yellow jackets that flew out of the flowerbed and buzzed angrily around them. Then, seemingly without warning, the wasps attacked and stung one of them.

Within seconds, the gardener felt dizzy and complained of a sudden and severe headache. Moments later, she fell to the ground, unconscious and without a pulse. At the time, nobody knew that she was severely allergic to the venom of bees and yellow jackets, but her family soon realized that she had been stung, that she was in anaphylactic shock, and that she needed immediate help if she were to survive.

They sprang to action. The brother called 911. The sister started chest compressions at the rate of 100 per minute. A third person opened the stricken woman’s airway by tilting her head back and lifting her chin. A fourth gave two breaths about every 20 seconds. Minutes later, the Emergency Med- ical crew arrived and administered epinephrine. With the injection, the victim revived, gasping for breath.

Because this family was CPR trained, they were able to save their relative’s life by starting resuscitation in the crucial moments before the arrival of paramedics.

According to Jane E. Brody in her New York Times “Per- sonal Health” column, December 24, 2013, about 383,000 episodes of cardiac arrest occur outside hospitals each year, and 88% of them occur at home. Beginning immediate resuscitation can significantly improve the victim’s chances of survival with good brain function, because the patient’s brain spends less time without crucial oxygen. New guidelines from the American Heart Association promote a simplified version of bystander CPR by emphasizing that the most important action to take after yelling for someone to call 911 is to begin rapid, forceful chest compressions, even without rescue breathing. Two studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrate that the chances of survival in sudden cardiac arrest in teens and adults is the same or better with chest compression alone, making it much easier for non-medical personnel to remember what to do in the chaos of acute crisis, and thus be more effective.

CPR is an invaluable yet simple skill, easily learned by almost anyone with the requisite strength and common sense. For those interested in learning how to perform compression-only CPR, the American Heart Association offers on line hands-only CPR instructional videos. There are also free mobile training apps available for iPhone and Android phones.

Conventional CPR with rescue breathing is still recommended for infants and younger children. Courses are offered regularly by the South Orangetown Department of Parks and Recreation. Call 845-359-6503 for details. For more information on community CPR, go to the American Heart Association’s website: www.heart.org/HEARTORG/.