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Originally Posted by pokeefe45@aol.com
I have always feared that having a complete 'AED' program would be a barrier for anyone to actually learn and practice CPR-The mention in another reply about a Village having had AED's for 20 years without ANY use is eye-opening-Are we able to gather any facts from VPSD about the existing programs? And how do we educate people to ensure CPR is the initial response and ensure we have a neighborhood filled with residents trained in CPR? I'm just a 'little dawg' in Lake Denham-but your posts are making sense to me-How do we engage and redirect now before it's too late? Noone is ill intentioned-but maybe ill-informed?
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Good questions. The thread has sent me googling for additional info. 3 minutes looks to be an important cutoff level for successful outcomes. There are unsuccessful outcomes other than death. This makes me suspect that having them at places like Rec centers is a fine idea with plenty of potential for benefit.
*If* having them in less accessible areas with fewer folks in the vicinity and/or likely to be able to utilize them in time would mean a greater chance for having more folks surviving with brain damage, then that debate might be worth having. My wife knows *my* preferences for such a situation. Even has it in writing.
On another note, just read that a patient with ventricular fibrillation or "pulseless" ventricular tachycardia might still be breathing. While it's not likely to be "normal" breathing, I certainly don't feel trained enough to decide whether one's "level" of breathing, if present, is suitable for even initiating CPR. Heck, even a patient in fibrillation can have a "pulse" of sorts. Might even retain some level of "consciousness" (I just read) - however *that's* defined. Any handy "rules of thumb" on the subject out there to share?
One last rather disturbing statistic that turned up was that 7% of those suffering SCA - sudden cardiac arrest - survive without CPR or defibrillation. No clue how *that* works. But, CPR "only" (no defibbing) jumps that number up only to 9%.
Finally, the "kind of interesting" thing I learnt was that defibrillator "shock" is for *stopping* the heart and its electrical activity. Apparently this "pause" gives it a chance to "reorganize" itself electrically speaking. Way over my head, as is fine vs. coarse ventricular fibrillation.
Oh, one more that I hadn't ever understood but had kinda wondered about! A "heart attack" (enough blockage of a coronary artery) can lead to a shut-off of normal electrical activity of the heart and SCA.