Heart attacks serve as very somber reminders of the fragility of life. These nearly undetectable and highly unpredictable events can rob someone of their life just as quickly they strike, and therein lies its uniquely cruel quality. It is not nearly enough for it to be undetectable and unpredictable; it also had to be very fatal. It is the exact combination that is difficult to survive for most individuals, but just as the heart attack is the perfect symbol of the fragile human life, CPR training is similarly symbolic of human resilience. It serves to show that even in the most daunting of situations that people can still work against a seemingly inevitable demise.
The need for CPR training is perfectly underlined by the sheer prevalence of heart disease. Heart disease is affecting people at record numbers, and the trends of today are doing very little to discourage its continuing rise. It has become so much easier these days to adopt an unhealthy diet, and that puts more people at risk for a heart attack. Since heart attacks again are known particularly for being very highly unpredictable, that just means that they can strike during the most inopportune of times. It is an additional reason for why heart attacks are so deadly in the first place. They strike when least expected and that leaves people woefully unprepared to really do anything about it. CPR training will at the very least put more people in the position to help. This type of knowledge and training can make the biggest difference during these very challenging situations.
The heart attack can be fatal because it deprives the brain and the body of its oxygen supply. The heart is the organ most responsible for the distribution of oxygen and if it stops to function then that just means that the oxygenated blood will also begin to stop flowing through. Through CPR training, people are given the ability to at least artificially distribute what remaining oxygenated blood does still reside within the body. The procedure itself serves to just preserve brain functions long enough for more drastic actions once the individual is taken to the hospital.
Every second counts during this time so CPR truly is very important. The administering of CPR can buy a few precious seconds of life for the stricken individual.
CPR training is all about teaching individuals the most basic steps of the procedure. The step that starts the procedure involves the identification of the breathing pattern. Should the breathing pattern be confirmed as irregular, the individual can then move on to applying pressure to the chest in the form of 30 downward pushes. These must reach a depth of about two inches. Once that step is done with, the stricken individual’s chest must then be pumped at a rate of about 100/minute. The last step of CPR will call for the administering of breath. These breaths must be applied up until the chest of the stricken individual begins to rise.
