If you happen to be in the room when someone goes into cardiac arrest, you can double or even triple their chances of survival.
All you have to do to be that hero is be trained in CPR.
CPR, or Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation, is a life-saving technique that can save the life of someone that has suffered sudden cardiac arrest.
In a critical situation where someones life hangs in the balance, the best CPR practise is going to help boost the victims odds of survival in all cases.
Its for that very reason that Richmond Fire-Rescue is recommending all citizens become skilled in CPR.
Bystander CPR as its called, administered within the first four minutes can be the difference between life and death.
The problem is that less than one third of victims receive bystander or medical first responder CPR within that time frame.
The chain of survival starts the moment a trained person assists someone who is having a cardiac event, said deputy fire chief Tim Wilkinson.
The sooner a person receives assistance in the form of CPR, the better their chances of survival are. As we all know, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Dont let that link be you.
Part of Richmond Fire-Rescues harm prevention strategy urges all adults and high school students to learn CPR as an important life skill.
Many lives are saved as students step forward in a wide range of medical emergencies involving heart attacks, cardiac arrest, stroke, drowning and more. Since 1994, 1.8 million youth have been trained in CPR, and approximately 300,000 youths are trained every year in more than 1,600 high schools in Canada.
For information on registering for CPR courses from Canadian Red Cross, visit www.redcross.ca (click: How we Help > First Aid & CPR) or call 1-888-307-7997; for St. Johns Ambulance visit www.sja.ca or call 1-866-321-2651.
