Posted by mvanneman538 on 05/06/2015

Call it being at the right place at the right time but I am fortunate to have saved two SCA victims in the past year. The most recent occurred just over 2 weeks ago. Here is a link to the story http://patch.com/california/cupertino/area-exec-saves-heart-attack-vict…

The most important thing is that both individuals lived. That said I am trying to understand are the odds of this happening? From what I understand it is rare to save one persons life with CPR...but two in one year?

If anyone has some data that can shed some light on this, I would appreciate it.

Mike Vanneman

Comments

Submitted by SCAFoundation on 05/06/2015

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Thank you for reaching out to the SCA Foundation. We did see the story about your recent save and posted it on our Facebook page.

It is fantastic that you were able to save two lives!
 
The fact that you were a bystander, not a first responder in these cases, makes it all the more unusual.
 
Only one-third of victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest receive CPR before EMS arrives and less than 5% of victims are treated with AEDs before EMS arrives.
 
So this is truly amazing and we applaud your efforts.
 
You represent a great example for others. By gettting involved, you made the difference between life and death for these two individuals!
 
Congratulations and best wishes!

 

Submitted by Bob Trenkamp on 05/06/2015

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Way to go, Mike!

Could I interest you in moving next door to me?

Seriously. nice job - and no, I haven't heard of that (two in one year) happening, except for people on the ambulances and in the Emergency Departments.

Congratulations.

Bob Trenkamp

Witnessed SCA occurs in about 0.05% of the population in any given year so the odds of being involved is rare (one in 2000) or twice is small in the same year (one in 4,000,000 if I remember my statistics). Saving the victim is not so rare. 1 in 10 for CPR only and 9 of 10 if you have and AED and CPR in the first minute. Witness and speed are critical, but with an AED and pushing hard and fast many lives can be saved.
Great Job
Pete Metcalfe
PDM Inc.

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