According to the American Heart Association, 330,000 deaths each year are due to coronary heart disease. If a person suffers a heart attack and someone is there to perform cardiac resuscitation, this could save the individual's life.
Definition
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is done on an individual who has collapsed, has no pulse and is not breathing. This often is caused by a heart attack.
Training
An individual can receive training on perform CPR from a local hospital, school or community center or online. Certification cards are issued upon completion of training and are typically valid for two years.
Purpose
The purpose of cardiac resuscitation is to keep the blood circulating throughout the body and to provide oxygen to prevent brain damage or death.
Procedure
As of 2005, the American Heart Association's new guidelines for chest compressions and rescue breathing state that the resuscitator should give 100 chest compressions a minute to the victim. The compressions should be done fast and hard. Chest compressions and rescue breathing are done at a ratio of 30 chest compressions to two rescue breaths.
Warning
It is best to keep chest compressions going until medical responders arrive, because as long as compressions are occurring, blood is flowing through the body to the organs.
Tags: chest compressions, compressions rescue, American Heart, American Heart Association, chest compressions rescue, compressions rescue breathing