6-8-17 cpr week

Every year more than 350 thousand Americans suffer cardiac arrest in a location other than a hospital, and for every one of them, their survival depends on someone stepping up to administer CPR immediately. According to the American Heart Association, almost 90 percent of people whose hearts suddenly stop will die because they don’t get CPR.   The vast majority of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen at home, so if you are called on to perform CPR you will most likely be helping to save the life of someone  you love. The American Heart Association, which introduced hands-only CPR in 2008, says there are really only two steps you need to follow: call 9-1-1 or have someone do that, and press hard and fast on the center of the chest.  Todd Janquardt  is the assistant chief of EMS with Fond du Lac Fire and Rescue.  Janquardt says chest compressions keep blood circulating in the body.  Janquardt says sometimes people avoid learning CPR because they think its difficult to master the concept.  But he says that’s not the case at all.    The American Heart Association has plenty of resources to help anyone learn CPR at heart-dot-org-slash-handsonlycpr.