Save a life, learn CPR
You don't have to be a doctor, nurse, paramedic or lifeguard to save a life. Just learn CPR. Knowing how to perform CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) will give you the skills to help someone in cardiac arrest survive until emergency personnel arrive. More than 80% of the 35, 000 to 45,000 cardiac arrests in Canada occur at home or in public places every year. And for every minute that passes without help, a person's chance of surviving a cardiac arrest drops by about 10%. However, if CPR is performed in the first few minutes, it can increase the odds of survival and recovery by 30 per cent or more.
We've made it easy for you to learn CPR.
Cardiac arrest – when the heart suddenly stops beating and a person stops breathing – can result from a variety of causes including a heart attack, stroke, drowning, electric shock, suffocation, drug overdose or other injury. "Our goal is to get someone who has had a cardiac arrest to a hospital alive," says Heart and Stroke Foundation spokesperson Dr. Andrew Travers. "To improve the odds of survival, Canadians need to recognize a cardiac arrest and know to call 9-1-1 and get trained in CPR."
Learning CPR is especially important for families and caregivers of those living with heart disease, or at high risk of developing it. Just knowing what to do in an emergency until paramedics arrive goes a long way in helping a person survive.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada sets the national guidelines for CPR and AED training to improve the odds of survival after cardiac arrest. The resulting training materials, which are now being used across Canada, make CPR quick and easy to learn. "If you haven't been trained in CPR, now's the time," says Dr. Travers. "The way we do CPR has changed dramatically with the most recent guidelines and it is much easier to learn and remember. So even if you have been trained, you should retrain to learn this new, simpler, more effective method."
Every year about one million Canadians are trained in CPR with materials based on the Heart and Stroke Foundation's guidelines. This year, the Foundation has also introduced a new way to learn CPR in your own home. The Heart&Stroke CPR Anytime™ for Family & Friends™ kit is a self-directed program designed to teach the core skills in 20 minutes. Learning CPR is such a short investment of time and it could save the life of someone close to you, says Heart and Stroke Foundation spokesperson Mike Nemeth, a Toronto paramedic. "The more people trained in CPR, the greater the chance of keeping victims alive until an ambulance arrives."
This November, 2007, the Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators will participate in Heart&Stroke CPR Night in Canada. These public CPR training events will occur during game nights and allow fans to take home their own CPR Anytime™ kit. Attend one of these major league hockey games for this special training opportunity:
November 1: Calgary Flames
November 17: Toronto Maple Leafs
- a 22-minute instructional DVD
- an inflatable mini-mannequin with a hard face and chest (which includes an adult/child compression clicker that provides audible 'click' when compressions are done correctly)
- a user-friendly instruction manual – with easy-to-understand text and reinforcing photographs
CPR Anytime™ is an excellent way for anyone to learn CPR. It may be right for you if you are:
