Ariz. Responders Learn Compressions-Only CPR

Oct. 30--Experiencing cardiac arrest outside of a hospital can be extremely deadly.

According to Yuma Fire Department Battalion Chief Rod Reed, nationwide between 3 and 5 percent of people who experience out- of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survive to be discharged from the hospital.

"In other words, if it happens in someone's backyard, there is a 3 to 5 percent chance they are actually going to be found, CPR started and taken to the hospital," he said.

"Chances are not very good they are going to walk out of the hospital neurologically intact. In some places, they measure the save rate by getting them to the hospital with a pulse."

In the city of Yuma, YFD responds to about six emergency calls for cardiac victims each month, Reed said, noting those numbers will increase with the arrival of winter visitors.

YFD wants to increase the number of OHCA survivors who "are functioning and can go back into society," Reed added.

To achieve that goal, emergency responders will now use compression-only CPR, and new methods in cardiocerebral resuscitation (CCR), which is a minimally interrupted method of CPR.

Earlier this year Reed, along with other emergency personnel from across Arizona, traveled to Seattle to attend a training seminar about compression-only CPR and CCR techniques.

In Seattle, where the new procedures have been adopted, the percentage of OHCA victims who survive to be discharged from the hospital is about 40 to 50 percent, Reed said.

To learn the new techniques and procedures, YFD first responders, along with emergency personnel from other fire departments in the Yuma area, participated in the Western Region Pre-hospital Resuscitation Class on Friday.

Speakers at the event, which was attended by about 60 emergency personnel, included leaders in the field of emergency medicine such as Ben Bobrow, the medical director for the Bureau of EMS and Trauma at the Arizona Department of Health Services, and Dr. Jason Roosa, Maricopa Medical Center EMS Fellow.

The first responders also spoke with cardiac arrest survivors and practiced the CCR techniques and compression-only CPR on dummies during the session.

"This is a one-day academy to go over the latest changes and latest protocols for cardiac resuscitation," Bobrow said during the course.

"There have been a lot of changes recently."

According to Bobrow, compression-only CPR eliminates the process of pausing to breathe into a victim's mouth.

"There was never really any good evidence that the blowing did anything. The pushing is really what does the life-saving part, which gets blood flow to the heart and the brain until you can get a defibrillator."

Copyright 2011 - The Sun, Yuma, Ariz.