Posted: 24 Nov '16

What Do You Really Know About CPR?

You have probably watched shows on TV and have seen doctors or nurses furiously pumping someone's chest and forcing life-saving breaths into them. In the shows, you can feel the sense of urgency the people are going through as they try to save a life. While that is television's version of CPR, the urgency off the screen is even more critical. If you were to face an emergency in Edmonton, instead of on-screen, what do you really know about CPR?

CPR Could Save Thousands of Lives, Including Yours

As many as 45,000 cardiac arrests and 70,000 heart attacks occur in Canada yearly. If you break that down further, that means an arrest occurs every 12 minutes and an attack every seven! That puts the odds of you facing someone struggling to survive a cardiac incident extremely high in your lifetime. You likely know that brain damage can occur if the brain is deprived of oxygen for as few as four minutes. If a heart stops, it takes anywhere from six to 12 minutes to restart it. Calculate the odds of survival if you are not trained in CPR and someone you love faces a cardiac incident.

Cardiac Incidents Aren't the Only Time to Depend on CPR

While cardiac incidents are more common than you might realize, they are not the only time to depend on CPR to save a life in Edmonton. Infants and children suffer from choking incidents and due to their love of water, many suffer near-drowning. CPR is what would save children under either of these potentially fatal circumstances. Older children who get themselves into trouble through experimentation may end up overdosing and require CPR to keep them alive until they get proper medical attention. Finally, motor vehicle collisions happen all the time in Edmonton and a person's life may depend on whether they receive CPR or not.

What You Don't Know About CPR Could be Fatal

No matter how many times you've watched television personalities performing CPR, you have to remember it's just that- a performance. Attempting CPR without proper training could do more harm than good and even lead to the death of the very person you are trying to save. You can become fully certified in CPR in Edmonton by taking a two-day course that runs weekly. Considering that the odds are very high that you may be faced with someone you care about being involved in an incident that requires this life-saving measure, that short length of time is a very small investment.

MI Safety will train you in standard first aid and CPR right in Edmonton so you can be fully prepared to face an emergency when it happens. These are valuable life skills your whole family should have so all members have a fighting chance if an injury or cardiac incident occurs where resuscitation is required. Contact us today at MI Safety to schedule your Edmonton CPR and First Aid training course.