CPR Saves

Football fans across the nation held their breaths on Jan. 2 when 24-year-old Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed after a tackle and suffered cardiac arrest. (Thankfully, Hamlin was discharged to go home to Buffalo for care a week later.)

It was scary to watch someone in medical distress for nine minutes. Athletic trainer Denny Kellington administered CPR, likely saving Hamlin's life, and in the days that followed, starting a conversation about why life-saving CPR skills are needed on and off the football field.

In America, 350,000 people die annually from a cardiac arrest, though CPR is also often used in cases of electric shock, severe allergic reaction, drowning, overdose, suffocation, and—in Hamlin's case—blunt force trauma that can cause rhythm irregularities or electrical malfunction of the heart.

While you might never find yourself providing medical assistance on a football field, knowing CPR could still save someone's life. Research shows that 70% of cardiac arrests happen outside medical facilities, and over 90% of victims die before reaching a hospital. However, CPR within the first five minutes of a cardiac arrest can improve the victim's chance of survival as much as threefold.

That's because as more time passes, the more likely the person who suffered cardiac arrest can develop brain damage. But brain damage is unlikely when CPR is administered in four minutes or less, and the survival rate is high. Nearly 45% of cardiac arrest victims have survived when given CPR by a bystander. And maybe, one day, that bystander could be you.

Unfortunately, only about 20% of Americans know how to administer CPR, but that can change today! Here's a quick tutorial on how to perform hands-only CPR (i.e., no mouth-to-mouth required):

Don't forget to refresh your skills periodically with a CPR class or watch tutorial videos like these by the American Heart Association:

 

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