The Importance of Community CPR
By Lt. Chris Morrison, Brimfield Fire Department

It is a beautiful summer evening when your spouse comes in from mowing the grass. She complains of feeling exhausted, a little light headed and has a twinge of nausea. You bring her a glass of water and as you hand it to her, her eyes roll back and she becomes unresponsive on the couch. You shake her in an attempt to wake her up but she doesn’t move. You notice she is turning grey and not breathing. You call 911 and anxiously await the fire department’s arrival.

When the ambulance arrives, the crew begins a 20 minute regimen of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), IV’s, medications, defibrillation, and placing a tube down her throat to breathe for her. Finally, the patient is transported to the emergency department and turned over to the ED staff for continued treatment.

There are over 1,000,000 incidents of heart attacks seen in the emergency room in the United States each year, with an additional 250,000 occurrences of sudden cardiac arrest. During cardiac arrest, the heart stops pumping oxygen rich blood to the brain and other vital organs. Studies have shown that within 3 minutes of cardiac arrest, irreversible brain damage begins to occur and for each minute that the brain goes without oxygen there is a 10% decrease in survivability. This means that within 6 minutes of cardiac arrest, the chances of patient survival are only 40% at best.

Defibrillation (a special type of electric shock to the heart) is the only way to return a heart that is not beating to life. Many churches, stores, restaurants and other businesses are purchasing and placing automated external defibrillators (AED’s) in their establishments for just such an emergency.

The good news is that by learning CPR and how to use an AED, you will be making a positive impact on the survivability of a loved one, friend, neighbor, or even someone that you don’t know.

Through the learning and proper application of CPR and a public use AED, you can help maintain an oxygen supply to the brain of the victim, helping to stave off brain damage and death. The only people that survive a cardiac arrest are those who receive early CPR.

The Brimfield Fire Department is currently developing a community American Heart Association (AHA) CPR program which, beginning this summer will schedule quarterly CPR classes to encourage better chances of victim survival in the event of a cardiac arrest. In just a few short hours, you can be trained to better the chances of survival for someone that you love.

If you would like more information on the Community CPR Program, contact Brimfield Fire Department EMS Coordinator, Lt. Chris Morrison at 330.678.9244, or Brimfield’s Department of Parks and Recreation Supervisor, Missy McIlduff at 330.678.0739

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Contact Information
 BRIMFIELD FIRE DEPARTMENT
1333 Tallmadge Rd - Kent, Ohio 44240
Fire Chief: Robert Keller
Phone: 330-678-9244
Fax: 330-678-4234
E-mail: brimfieldfire@neo.rr.com

Last modified: June 18, 2008