Mondays Matter: Week 21

Taken from the book Every Monday Matters: 52 Ways to Make A Difference by Matthew Emerzian and Kelly Bozza

LEARN CPR

-4-6 Minutes after someone experiences cardiac arest, brain death starts to occur.

-75-80% of all out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen at home.

-95% of sudden cardiac arrest victims die before reaching the hospital.

-CPR helps maintain vital blood flow to the heart and brain and increases the amount of time that an electric shock from a defibrillator can be effective.

-CPR can double a victim's chance of survival.

ACTION STEPS

1. Call your local hospital to find a place near you that teaches CPR or to arrange for a certified CPR instructor to come to your school or workplace.

2. Sign up for a class with a family member, friend, or even your kids.

3. Learn CPR. It only takes a few hours.

4. Post CPR guidelines in a kitchen cupboard, your office, your car, and anywhere else you frequent. These guidelines may come in handy during emergency situations. Tell people around you that the guidelines are there in case they need to perform CPR.

I have never been in a situation where I have needed to perform CPR and I hope I never am, but feel fairly confident that I could perform if needed to. We were very fortunate that an amazing woman named Marj performed CPR on my mother-in-law which gave us 6 more months with her. That was such a blessing for us to have that time with her and we would not have had it without the CPR that was performed on her after her heart stopped beating.

What if you needed help and no one around you could help you? Take a few hours today to learn this life-saving skill. It can change your life- and somone else's life-forever.