Sudden Cardiac Arrest Can Also Strike the Young

 Each year an estimated 325,000 people die in the United States from Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA).  Of that number the Heart Rhythm Society estimates about 7,000 of these deaths are in children and infants. On August 30th, 1997, my seemingly healthy 22 year old daughter, Emilie, died suddenly, in… Read More

Grateful to be able to start a new year!

  I am 43 and in August of 2010 suffered sudden cardiac arrest after Mt. Biking.  I was extremely fortunate that another rider who had just finished the same time knew CPR and got on me immediately.  I was shocked back by the paramedics and taken to St. Vincents Hospital in Indianapolis.  I then… Read More

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to everyone.  It is always a great feeling to spend the holidays with my family especially after surviving a cardiac arrest.  Best wishes!

CPR Sunday - 10/10/10

I was very excited to be invited to help the Tacoma Fire Department put on their CPR Sunday. It took place on 10/10/10 and is held once a year, Volunteer firefighters and EMTs teach CPR classes. This year was the largest day they ever had...more than 850 people learned CPR. I was able to tell my… Read More

Another restriction just got shot down...

One common "carve out" for compression-only CPR is "Use full CPR on victims of cardiac arrest secondary to respiratory arrest. A study performed at the University of Phoenix was recently published by Ashish R Panchal et al in the peer-reviewed medical journal Circulation. This study showed by… Read More

Making it real

One of the problems encountered in trying to convince people that they ought to learn CPR is that many people think it's not relevant to them.We keep looking for new ways to help people realize that cardiac arrests are realities that happen to people they know and that they might someday be the… Read More

I just heard a new excuse

I thought I had heard of all the reasons given by people for not being willing to learn CPR. But Christine Lind - SLICC's Director of Skidaway Operations - shared one with me yesterday that still has my head shaking.The person had told Christine that they didn't want to learn CPR because they didn'… Read More

Today is the day...

Today is the day on which the 2010 changes to the BLS protocols are to be announced. The rampant speculation is that the ratio of compressions to rescue breaths will change (go up) for full CPR and that the applicability of compression-only CPR will be expanded.In the midst of all this focus on the… Read More

Do the math.

Would you do something where it was well documented that one out of every eight people who do it die? Of course not. Now picture your family members, friends, and acquaintances in an auditorium. Picture what that crowd looks like - your family and close friends are closest to the podium on the… Read More

This October, Learn How to Save a Life

October is National Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month, dedicated to educating the public about sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and how to prevent and respond to it. 2010 is also the 50th anniversary of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), a lifesaving gift that anyone can give to a loved one--or… Read More