Reprogramming the Lay Rescuer Psychology to Cardiac Arrest

Every member of emergency services has heard the call too many times to remember: “3343 Main St … 29-year-old female passed out at her desk … is having a seizure. Breathing shallow and moaning.” We all know this call often ends up as a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). We also know it most likely will end with the victim dying where they collapsed, surrounded by grieving family members or co-workers. At these scenes do we often sit and wonder, why wasn’t anyone doing CPR? Were they too afraid? Was their card expired? This scene played itself out on Feb 6, 2017, at a local law firm. Ironically, what made this story remarkable enough to make three local network newscasts wasn’t that the 29-year-old victim died, but rather, that she lived! The rescuer of this mother of a 10-year-old daughter was a retired city council member and had taken a crash course in CPR—a no frills, less than one-hour Lay Rescuer CPR course—along with the rest of the council, nearly three years ago. The “saving” council member credited her instructor with giving her the willingness to acknowledge what she was seeing and more importantly, the courage to act immediately and without hesitation. Take Heart America Take Heart America is a SCA initiative developed to guide lay rescuers and professional medical personnel on how to better prepare for and treat just this kind of patient. We are a collaborative organization focused on developing and delivering cutting-edge technologies and strategic ...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Cardiac & Resuscitation Heart of America Source Type: news