By Barbara Anderson
Fresno Bee (California)
Copyright 2006 McClatchy Newspapers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
New cardiopulmonary resuscitation guidelines are making it easier to teach someone how to save a life.
CPR students no longer need to memorize one set of rules for adults and another for children and babies. Instead, there’s one rule to remember: 30 chest compressions to every two breaths — regardless of the age of the person who stopped breathing.
By the end of this year, anyone certified by the American Red Cross to teach CPR must be trained in the new guidelines to teach others.
American Heart Association instructors also teach the new guidelines.
The new procedures replace the old chest compression-to-breath ratios of 15-to-2 for adults and 5-to-1 for children and infants.
“It’s a lot better now,” said Gilbert Rodriguez, a Red Cross instructor-trainer in Fresno. “It’s not so confusing.”
The Red Cross Fresno-Madera chapter has about 500 instructors. Thus far, about 75% of them have been trained in the new CPR procedures, said Mach Moung, health and safety director.
Moung said people trained in the old CPR techniques won’t get in trouble if they find themselves in a situation where they need to use them. California has a good Samaritan law that allows a person to provide aid in good faith without fear of liability.
“If you want to help a person, doing something is better than doing nothing,” he said.
But Moung encourages people to be trained in the new CPR techniques.
The CPR changes, adopted by the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross, aim to simplify CPR so more people will learn it.
It also ensures that more chest compressions will be given, increasing blood flow to the heart, brain and other organs.
Studies show the new CPR techniques are better at saving lives, Moung said.
At American Ambulance, paramedics and emergency medical technicians are following the changes.
And 911 operators are up to speed on the new protocols, said Daniel Lynch, director of emergency medical services for Fresno County.
The county agency is responsible for directing and maintaining emergency services in Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Madera counties.
Training for other emergency medical providers in the area is ongoing, Lynch said.
The American Red Cross wants to educate 2% of all Americans in CPR, said Ellen Schneider, chief executive director of the Fresno-Madera chapter.
“Our chapter’s goal is to have at least one member of every family trained in CPR and first aid,” she said.
About 75% to 80% of heart attacks that don’t happen in a hospital happen at home, according to the American Heart Association.
Brain death starts four to six minutes after someone’s heart stops beating. If CPR is not provided, the Heart Association said, chances of surviving fall 7% to 10% for every minute of delay.
But getting people interested in CPR classes is a challenge.
“A lot of people out there don’t even understand why they need to be certified,” Schneider said.
But you never know when the person next to you will need help, she said.
Just two weeks ago, a Fresno man who had never performed CPR stopped to help a 13-year-old who collapsed in a fistfight near Ahwahnee Middle School.
A police dispatcher gave CPR instructions over the telephone to another bystander who relayed the information so CPR could be performed on Michael Anthony Mobley. But the teen could not be resuscitated and died Nov. 1 of head trauma.
Moung said people who have never taken a CPR class will find the new procedures easy to learn. And for those updating their skills, the techniques are simpler and easier to remember.
People at a CPR class last week in Fresno said they liked the new procedures.
“When you’re trying to help someone, you want it to be more like a natural thing,” said Rodger Watson, 26, a Fresno security guard and police volunteer.
Jenny Peters, 37, of Reedley, needs to know CPR because she is an after-school care provider. Under the old CPR rules, there was always the fear of forgetting how many compressions to give a child versus an adult, she said.
“The compressions are really important,” she said. “And it’s easier now.”