How many of us have seen Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation or CPR on a television program after someone saves the life of a drowning victim and helps come to life. It almost seems staged that the chest compressions can magically brings life back to a lifeless body. However, it is not staged and CPR is not magical, but a life saving skill that anyone can learn.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is vital to know but few people know and understand how important CPR really is. Daily thousands of lives can be saved it people knew the basic skills. In fact, a recent study shows that almost 67% of people that use CPR improve the chances of someone living by 64%. When you think of those statistics it is an amazing increase considering that, many people who perform CPR are not in the medical field and that they have only had minimal training on CPR.
Firehouse knows that there can be no greater feeling than knowing you have the ability to save a person’s life.

CPR is a procedure used when a person’s breathing or heartbeat has stopped. Since 2005 CPR guidelines have changed to compression only. This new standard is still effective and saves lives. It works by using 100 chest compressions per minute. These compressions provide stimulation to the heart and the procedure artificially restores functions and allows blood circulation.

When we think of saving a life, we may feel like we do not have the skills or qualifications, however, learning CPR is a simple technique to learn now that it is the hands on only. More bystanders are feeling confident in learning this technique thus more apt to use it to save a life..

It is important to keep in mind that hands on only CPR should be used only for adults who collapse, stop breathing and are unresponsive. The odds are that the person is having cardiac arrest — the heart suddenly stops — which can occur after a heart attack or be caused by other heart problems. In such a case, the victim still has ample air in the lungs and blood and compressions keep blood flowing to the brain, heart and other organs.

You may need to apply CPR in the following situations:

• Choking – if something is blocking the airway
• Poisoning – gas takes the place of oxygen, mainly seem with carbon monoxide poisoning
• Drowning or suffocation – there is no air available to breathe in
• Electric shock – an electric impulse stops or disrupts the heart
• Severe allergic reactions
• Being very sick from a serious infection
• Heart attack – the heart stops beating. Oxygen is available in the blood in the lungs, but the heart is not moving it around
• Strokes, when the blood flow to a part of the brain suddenly stops

Remember that CPR is a simple but effective procedure that allows almost anyone to sustain life. This simple but critical skill can make you feel confident with your emergency response skill. Firehouse offers up to date training and certification and has online registration for your convenience. So what are you waiting for? Learn CPR from Firehouse and put out any fires of doubt with how you respond to an emergency.