Can You Save a Life with CPR?
Medical personnel are trained to perform CPR in the event of an emergency, yet approximately 70% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in other settings. Bystanders often do not help heart attack victims because they are reluctant to do mouth-to-mouth or they fear they can't do CPR correctly.
A layman can indeed save the life of a heart attack victim without special training according to the American Heart Association. The organization has promoted these "Hands-Only" CPR guidelines to help save more lives:
1. First, the AHA says, call 911 if someone is in distress.
2. Then begin by pushing hard (depressing about 2 inches) and fast (about 100 pushes per minute) on the center of the victim's chest, and don't stop until help arrives.
The Hands-Only technique can more than double a victim's chances of survival. An instructional video is available here.
