August 6, 2015 – CPR for All

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Anchor lead: Learning CPR is simple and can save lives, Elizabeth Tracey reports

CPR works to save lives, two more recent studies in the Journal of the American Medical Association conclude.  In Japan and North Carolina, where public education efforts were undertaken to improve rates of bystander-initiated CPR, almost twice as many people who had heart attacks survived to be discharged from the hospital. Gordon Tomaselli, director of cardiology at Johns Hopkins, says the message is clear.

Tomaselli: I would say learn CPR.  Everybody should know CPR.  It’s easy to learn it’s easy to keep proficient at, you may never need to use it but I think if you ever do need to use it you can save a life.  That’s really the simple public health message.  And I would also advocate for making sure there’s wide distribution of AEDs and that CPR is a requirement for graduation across all schools in this country. I think most people who can use a cell phone can use an AED.  :25

Tomaselli adds that if you’re the sole responder to an apparent heart attack, make sure to call 911 before doing anything else. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.