Learn CPR

Every day around the world, CPR is used to save lives. CPR has been used to save the lives of children who have swallowed something accidentally or gotten into a pool when they don’t know how to swim and even the lives of adults suffering from an asthma attack or a heart attack. 80% of heart attacks occur in private settings where CPR can be administered to double a victim’s chances of survival. In the United States, 900 people a day suffer heart attacks and CPR can keep the blood flowing to the heart and lungs so that the victim can survive long enough until help arrives.

Getting certified is not easy but it’s not that difficult, either. There are many schools that have CPR classes you can take. You go through the class and prove to the instructors that you understand how to properly administer CPR. Once you’ve proven this, you are issued an official certification from the school known as an AHA certificate.

Administering CPR can be complicated. Firstly, no matter what the victim’s age is, check and see if they respond. If not, immediately call emergency response teams just in case. Then, you get down to the CPR. You open up their airway by tilting the head back and lifting up the chin. Check and see if the victim is actually breathing. If not, give them 2 breaths to make their chest rise. To do this, you open the airway and “look, listen and feel” for at least 5 seconds, but not more than 10. Then, give them the 2 breaths. Next, check the pulse. In an adult, check the carotid pulse in the neck and if there isn’t one, start CPR. On adults and children over one, this should be done on the center of the breastbone between the nipples. In a child under 1, do the compressions below the nipple line on the breastbone. To do compressions, use the heel of one hand with the other on top and push; with infants, use fingers. For adults, compress about 1 ½ to 2 inches and for children under age of 1, 1/3 to ½ an inch. You should be completing about 100 compressions per minute.

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