If You’ve Never Learned CPR,
Please Sign Up For A Class

by Darline Turner Lee, Physician Assistant, ACSM Exercise Specialist

Article Last Reviewed: Sept. 9, 2006

We just returned from our annual “in-law tour”. When my husband and I first married, we alternated visits with our families. We’d spend Christmas with one family and then speed off shortly thereafter to share a couple of days with the other family. It wasn’t optimum, but it was the solution that worked best so neither family felt sad when their “baby” wasn’t home for Christmas. After my daughter was born, traveling during the Christmas holidays became too complicated with car seats and snowsuits, so we moved the “tour” to the summer months. This year I took the kids to visit my folks in New England in July, and we all went to see my husband’s family in Tennessee in August.

This is my second visit to my husband’s family home since his father died on November 30, 2003. For that visit, we were part of the surprise for his parent’s fortieth wedding anniversary. My husband and his siblings had planned a family dinner party and all of them chipped in to send the happy couple for a weekend stay in a chalet in the smoky mountains of East Tennessee. Tragically, on the morning of November 30th, the day of my in-laws anniversary, my father-in-law did not wake up. My husband and I awoke to my mother-in-law’s frantic cries, “Come quick! Daddy’s not waking up!” Shaking off slumber, we ran into my in-laws bedroom to see my father-in-law’s lifeless body. I tried to do rescue breathing and chest compressions, but it was no use. My father-in-law was gone. The physician at the emergency room said that my father-in-law likely died in the early hours of the morning, two to three hours before his wife found him.

I am certified to give basic life support using cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and to administer advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) using medication and external defibrillators. Despite all this training, I wasn’t able to save my father-in-law. I wallowed in self pity for a few moments following his death, chastising myself for not saving him, questioning my training and wondering why he had to die on his anniversary of all days. Despite this unfortunate outcome, I encourage everyone to get CPR training.

According to the American Heart Association,

Seventy-five percent to eighty percent of all out of hospital cardiac arrests happen at home. If someone collapses and a bystander is alone, he should immediately notify nine-one-one and begin CPR if he is trained to do so. If more than one CPR-trained person witnesses the collapse, then one witness should notify nine-one-one while the other begins CPR. In a situation where a bystander knows and starts CPR immediately when a victim collapses, the victim has twice the chance of survival as a person who receives no CPR. If bystander CPR is not provided, a sudden cardiac arrest victim’s chances of survival fall seven percent to ten percent for every minute of delay until defibrillation. Brain death starts to occur four to six minutes after someone experiences cardiac arrest if no CPR and defibrillation occurs during that time. Few attempts at resuscitation are successful if CPR and defibrillation are not provided within minutes of collapse.

CPR courses are available at a number of venues, at a number of educational and certification levels, and for a nominal, if any. Both the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross offer classes and certifications in CPR and the use of automatic external defibrillators.

There are personal learning programs for which you can obtain the training equipment and an instructional video and learn CPR in about a half an hour on your own. (You are not certified at the end of this course!) If you prefer or require more formal instruction and certification, you must attend an approved CPR class administered by a licensed instructor. I recently recertified my provider level CPR skills for about forty dollars and it only took about ninety minutes. Many community centers, churches, schools and civic groups offer CPR classes for free to their members and participants. Hospitals always have classes available for the community. If you can’t find a class, contact your local chapter of the American Heart Association www.americanheart.org or the American Red Cross www.redcross.org and they can tell you where classes and materials are available.

According to the American Heart Association one in seven people will have an opportunity to use CPR in their lifetime. Individuals between the ages of forty and seventy will have the most opportunities, yet are the most underrepresented age group in CPR classes. My mother-in-law and my parents have not taken CPR training despite my prodding. I’m going to keep encouraging them to get trained.

If you’ve never taken a CPR class, sign up for a class today! One in seven are pretty strong odds that you will witness someone’s collapse. Although not all attempts at CPR are successful, if you see someone collapse and know what to do, your action or inaction may be the deciding factor whether that person lives or dies, and whether or not they suffer any permanent brain damage.

Please get CPR training. If you’d like more reasons why you should, e-mail Darline Turner-Lee