San Antonio Express-News
SAN ANTONIO — Fifty years ago a group of resuscitation pioneers combined mouth-to-mouth breathing with chest compressions to create cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the lifesaving action now called “CPR.”
When CPR is provided immediately after a sudden cardiac arrest, it can double, or even triple a victim’s chance of survival, as it did in the case of Chris Mock.
A year ago Mock went to work at Cactus Flower Salon just like she normally does. But before she began working, she fell to the floor. Her heart had stopped.
Luckily for Mock, many people were trained in CPR and came to her rescue. A next door neighbor from Edward Jones began the lifesaving CPR. Bulverde Firefighters were having a truck’s oil changed in the same center, and rushed over to continue the CPR.
Then Bulverde-Spring Branch EMS arrived, and performed advanced level care with two paramedics and specialized state-of-the-art equipment, and got Mock to the hospital alive.
On Feb. 5, Mock celebrated the anniversary of her near death experience with EMS and fire department personnel.
After Mock was out of the hospital and back at work, Barbara Sparkman, the owner of Cactus Flower Salon, arranged for a CPR instructor at Bulverde-Spring Branch EMS to teach everyone who works at the salon (and some customers) CPR.
Copyright 2010 San Antonio Express-News