Your Health

New Initiative Aims To Save More Lives From Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Posted 3/31/2011

The high risk of death from sudden cardiac arrest can be reduced—and you may be part of the solution.

(NAPSI) - The nation’s leading emergency and resuscitation experts are working together to improve survival rates for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).

The Problem

Sudden cardiac arrest occurs when the heart abruptly stops beating because of abnormal heart rhythms. Each year, an estimated 295,000 Americans die from SCA, as reported by the American Heart Association’s Heart Disease and Stroke Statistical Update.

For three decades, there’s been no improvement in the national survival rate of 8 percent for SCA, and depending where you live, the survival rate could vary greatly.

The Solution

The HeartRescue Project is a new initiative to improve SCA procedures in three critical areas of response: bystanders, emergency medical services and hospital emergency rooms. To educate people and encourage the proper response to SCA, the Medtronic Foundation committed more than $15 million to initiate the HeartRescue Project. The project assembles the country’s leading emergency and resuscitation experts to expand successful response programs in five pilot states. The goal is to improve out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rates by at least 50 percent in five years in these states.

HeartRescue partners at the Universities of Arizona, Duke, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Washington and their partner agencies will coordinate proven protocols and high-tech treatments that show SCA is treatable.

“There is a 500 percent variation in survival after cardiac arrest,” said Dr. Graham Nichol, a HeartRescue partner at the University of Washington. “Many people don’t realize that cardiac arrest can be treated. In many regions, bystanders, emergency response and hospitals are not working together to help the patient.”

What You Can Do

Success begins with public bystanders. Communities with higher bystander CPR participation have higher SCA survival rates. Bystanders can take the following three steps to increase survival rates: Recognize the signs of SCA and call 911, begin CPR and find an automated external defibrillator (AED).

• Recognize the signs of SCA—If you see someone suddenly collapse, lose consciousness and stop breathing, that person could be experiencing sudden cardiac arrest. Immediately call 911.

• Perform CPR-Begin hands—only CPR: Push hard and fast on the chest-about 100 compressions a minute. Let the chest rise completely between compressions.

• Find an AED—Continue chest compressions until emergency personnel arrive. If possible, have someone get an automated external defibrillator, turn it on and follow the directions.

More Information

You can learn more about this initiative at www.medtronic.com/foundation and www.heartrescueproject.com.

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