{"id":141260,"date":"2017-01-01T07:05:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-01T05:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/141260\/learn-the-important-skill-of-cpr\/"},"modified":"2017-01-01T07:31:30","modified_gmt":"2017-01-01T05:31:30","slug":"learn-the-important-skill-of-cpr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/news-headlines\/2017\/01\/01\/learn-the-important-skill-of-cpr\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn the important skill of CPR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It is important for people to have the ability to perform Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR).<\/p>\n<p>ER24 urges everyone to learn this important skill.<\/p><div class=\"stream-item stream-item-in-post stream-item-inline-post aligncenter\"><\/div>\n<p>Simply put, it is a skill that could save a person\u2019s life.<\/p>\n<p>The thing about an emergency is that you never know when one may arise.<\/p><div class=\"stream-item stream-item-in-post stream-item-inline-post aligncenter\"><\/div>\n<p>Anyone, including family, friends and colleagues, could suffer cardiac arrest for example.<\/p>\n<p>You may just be the only one around who could possibly save them.<\/p>\n<p>Hence the importance of learning CPR.<\/p>\n<p>Below are some facts and tips about CPR provided by Willem Stassen, an ER24 critical care paramedic.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>What is CPR?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>CPR is the artificial means of ensuring that there is still blood flow to the brain and vital organs in the absence of a heartbeat (when someone goes into cardiac arrest).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>When exactly should CPR be performed?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Any patient who is unconscious, not breathing and without a pulse should have CPR started.<\/p>\n<p>Research has shown that it is often difficult to definitively feel a pulse in these patients.<\/p>\n<p>For this reason it is suggested that any patient who is not breathing or who is breathing abnormally (gasping) should have CPR started immediately.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>What does CPR do?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>CPR provides blood and oxygen to the heart muscle during compressions in order for the heart to have energy to restart.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, while the heart attempts to restart (if possible), CPR provides blood to vital organs.<\/p>\n<p>CPR and defibrillation (shocking patients in certain heart rhythms) have shown to be the only interventions that improve survival in cardiac arrest.<\/p>\n<p>The chances of survival without brain damage diminish every minute that no CPR is done.<\/p>\n<p>This means that waiting for an ambulance and paramedic to arrive before starting CPR will most certainly lead to a decreased chance of survival or an increase in the chances of catastrophic brain damage.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2016\/12\/ER24-CPR-Infographi_49144.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-141261\" src=\"https:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2016\/12\/ER24-CPR-Infographi_49144-520x390.jpg\" alt=\"ER24-CPR-Infographi_49144\" width=\"520\" height=\"390\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dwu32cgxelq1c.cloudfront.net\/local_newspapers\/sites\/31\/2016\/12\/ER24-CPR-Infographi_49144-520x390.jpg 520w, https:\/\/dwu32cgxelq1c.cloudfront.net\/local_newspapers\/sites\/31\/2016\/12\/ER24-CPR-Infographi_49144-270x203.jpg 270w, https:\/\/dwu32cgxelq1c.cloudfront.net\/local_newspapers\/sites\/31\/2016\/12\/ER24-CPR-Infographi_49144.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>How do you initiate CPR?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is done by applying external pressure to the chest by means of compressions.<\/p>\n<p>By applying this external pressure, blood is squeezed from the heart and chest cavity and circulated through the rest of the body, thus allowing for blood flow.<\/p>\n<p>Start CPR by interlocking your fingers and placing both hands on the breast bone of the chest.<\/p>\n<p>This is right in the centre of the chest.<\/p>\n<p>Push down onto the breast bone, keeping your arms straight.<\/p>\n<p>Release the compression and repeat at a rate of at least 100 compressions per minute.<\/p>\n<p>CPR should only be stopped if your life is in danger, if you are physically exhausted to the point where you cannot continue or until help arrives.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Should CPR be combined with mouth-to-mouth?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We have watched movies and know that mouth-to-mouth is a requirement, right? Wrong.<\/p>\n<p>It is no longer required to do mouth-to-mouth during CPR.<\/p>\n<p>Why? Because it discourages people from starting CPR, delays the start of chest compressions (the most important element of CPR), and there is passive breathing between each chest compression.<\/p>\n<p>Research has shown that there is no difference in mortality (survival) when patients are given compression-only CPR or where mouth-to-mouth is performed intermittently.<\/p>\n<p>Remember, you could save a person\u2019s life. Learn CPR.<\/p>\n<div class=\"stream-item stream-item-below-post-content\">\n<div class='tenancy_slot tenancy_slot_1 jannah_ad' style='display: none;' data-query-id='6e2de61ff9a1e0c680a56cb5067b561a'><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you know how to perform CPR? It is a life-saving skill to learn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1848,"featured_media":109109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"hasGravity":false,"cxt_article_byline":"","cxt_disable_google_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[9130,1824,979,969,13296,2734],"class_list":["post-141260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news-headlines","tag-cpr","tag-er24","tag-germiston","tag-germiston-city-news","tag-life-saving-technique","tag-melissa-hart"],"amp_enabled":true,"category_labels":{"Category":"News","SubCategory":"Local news"},"tag_labels":["cpr","ER24","germiston","germiston city news","life-saving technique","melissa hart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1848"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}