And it was easy as C-A-B. ❤

Did you know that 320,000+ people have cardiac arrests outside of a hospital each year in the U.S.? When cardiac arrest happens, the heart stops pumping and the brain stops getting air – and just 10 minutes without oxygen leads to irreversible brain damage.

Learning CPR could save one of these lives by literally keeping the brain alive with oxygen – and getting certified is not as hard as people think.

A goal of mine for 2018 was to get CPR certified – so I thought, “why not turn it into content?”

I found out there are several options for getting CPR certified in Cola (including online courses + at local centers), and with a little help from Sam’s mom, Barb Cuevas at UofSC, I set up a session for our COLAtoday staff with Neal Price, a certified instructor.

Neal’s day job is an airline pilot, so I trusted him with life-saving training. He works as an Advanced EMT, too, and will go just about anywhere to train CPR newbs. His typical clients are businesses, especially in the healthcare + childcare fields, where being CPR certified is mandatory.

He said the class would only take a couple of hours and cost <$50. (A common misconception of CPR classes is that they’re long, like, 8 hours long, boring and expensive.) Ours was not.

Neal came to our office with all the necessities – including a duffle bag stuffed with CPR dummies. We filled out some paperwork, and he didn’t even scold us when he saw that we were watching the botched CPR training episode of “The Office.” (It *is* true that you can tune your CPR compressions to “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees, according to this Lexington Medical Center video – just not the way Michael Scott does it.)

“The Office” gif via Giphy

We watched two quick (real) videos – a chill-inducing American Heart Association #LifeisWhy video (Nephron Pharmaceuticals here in West Cola is a big sponsor of this movement) + a video of a real-time, spontaneous heart attack in an office setting (scary, but inspiring).

Then we really got started. This is where we spent the majority of our time – on our office lounge floor, pumping dummies’ chests. We learned how to do the actual act of CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) – like where on a person’s body to press down (and how hard and fast), how to breathe how to check to see if they’re responsive, and even what to do if an infant is choking. ⬇

CPR standards have changed in the last few years, and some of the things I’ve “learned” through word of mouth + pop culture references are not the norm anymore. A couple of interesting facts we learned:

Treat everyone (adults, children + infants) with the same approach: 30:2 (30 compressions, then 2 breaths) + the same 100-120 CPMs (compressions per minute) – but different depths of pushing down on the chest for compressions: 2 inches for adults + kids (1-8 y.o.); 1.5 inches for infants (birth-1 y.o.). For infants, you can lay them over one arm and do CPR with one hand as you go walk to get help or call 9-1-1.
“A-B-C” is now remixed to “C-A-B,” or the steps you take during CPR: Compressions, Airway, Breathing.
Typically, during CPR, the person’s ribs break and cartilage tears – and you can hear that breaking and tearing. 😣 But Neal said a few broken ribs are a lot better than death.
You can use a special mask when doing CPR on a stranger to avoid mouth-to-mouth (if one’s available – or, if you want to provide one at your place of work, buy one from Amazon for ~$10).
AEDs (automated external defibrillators) are becoming more popular (you’ll often see them on walls in office buildings, restaurants, etc.). They shock a person’s heart through a portable device, to be used ASAP, before or in between rounds of CPR until medics arrive. You can use an adult-sized AED on adults, children + infants if a child-sized is not available (but for infants + kids, place pads on front + back).
Never do a “blind sweep” of someone’s mouth/throat when they’re choking because you could push the item deeper into their throat or scratch their throat, causing trauma.

Of course, the above tidbits are just major takeaways from our session and we are not medical professionals (we haven’t even gotten our certification cards in the mail yet) – so definitely sign up for a certification course to get all the facts + hands-on practice yourself.

If you're (still) reading this and (still) thinking, “why would I get certified?,” here are more facts + reasons to consider, courtesy David McClure, Safety and Security Manager at Nephron Pharmaceuticals, who is a certified red cross instructor for First Aid, CPR and AED.

Who should consider getting certified:

Whether you're a new parent, a senior care aide, a nanny or a budding babysitter, the value of CPR and first aid training is priceless in an emergency. You may not realize the importance of first aid or CPR certification until you're faced with a life-threatening situation.
If you're a parent, you know that kids like to put anything and everything into their mouths – from bugs to toys. And they're always getting new scrapes and cuts. First aid and CPR training can help prepare you for tackling these common occurrences.
Emergency training is a necessary skill for caregivers to have and it looks great on a resume. Businesses and families like to see it, as it means you're serious about taking care of others. If you have the training, mention it in your profile and job application.
Caregivers with first aid + CPR training are 2.5x more likely to be contacted by families.

Why it’s so important – especially in S.C.:

Heart diseases and stroke are the #1 cause of death in S.C.
Sudden cardiac arrest kills about 680 people a day, according to The American Heart Association.
Brain death occurs 4-6 minutes after the heart stops beating. CPR effectively keeps blood flowing and provides oxygen to the brain and other vital organs.
Every minute without defibrillation decreases a victim’s chances of survival 7-10%.
85+% of cardiac arrests happen at home. You frequently hear stories from people about how their lives were saved because of CPR performed by a husband, wife, child, or friend.
If CPR is given within the first two minutes of cardiac arrest, the chances of survival double.
Only 15-30% of people who experience sudden cardiac arrests outside of hospitals receive bystander CPR, which significantly lessens their chances of survival. When people are asked why they would not give CPR, a common answer is that they never received training.
Each year < 3% of the U.S. population receives CPR training, leaving many bystanders unprepared to respond to cardiac arrest.

Intern Katie, Producer Beth, Producer Sam + Editor Chloe after our class

If you think Neal sounds like a great CPR instructor (he was), email him at CPRwithNeal@gmail.com to set up a session.

I promise, none of us pulled the Squints on him.

I had (of course) seen people on TV perform CPR and (I think) learned the gist of it at some point in school – but now I feel a lot better having the real knowledge and skills to perform it, even though I hope I never have to use it. Better prepared than not.

– Chloe