By Jeff Barnet
Las Cruces Sun-News
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Five percent. Or 60 percent.
That is the difference in the percentage of lives that can be saved using the latest innovation in CPR called “Hands-only CPR.” The technique originated in the Phoenix area and as of April 1 became required for all people seeking American Heart Association CPR certification.
If you are still doing CPR the old way, the chances are 95 percent that the person you are trying to save will not make it. Currently, in southern New Mexico the survival rate for people experiencing cardiac arrest and other heart-related trauma is only 5 to 7 percent, according to Manny Medina, 25, EMT-paramedic and training center coordinator with Region II EMS Emergency Care Systems Development in Las Cruces.