Brain death can occur within 4-6 minutes after cardiac arrest

DENVER - July 15, 2013 - PRLog -- In the United States Cardiac arrest accounts for over 350,000 deaths every year. This is more deaths than from breast cancer, lung cancer, stroke or aids. It can occur to anyone regardless of previous history of heart problems.

From the moment of Cardiac Arrest the average adult will experience brain death with 4-6 minutes after the event if CPR is not started. With early CPR and the use of an AED the survival rate can be anywhere from 35%-75% depending on how quickly an AED arrives on scene. Unfortunately the average EMS response time in the US is between 8 and 11 minutes. This means that if we rely on the EMS system to be the first to help in a cardiac emergency the chances of survival are minimal (about 5%).

The other problem that we run into is that the average response rate to out of hospital emergencies is only around 20%, meaning there is a 80% chance no one will help you if you have a out of hospital emergency.

By learning CPR and First Aid you CAN become an effective rescuer, significantly increasing the chances of survival for someone who is having a life threatening emergency.  Many people worry about lawsuits when helping out others with CPR. However every state has something called a Good Samaritan Law (http://www.heartsafeam.com/pages/faq_good_samaritan), that offers legal protection when saving someone's life.

The other thing that we worry about is blood bourne pathogens from mouth to mouth CPR. There are new methods now that can involve hands only cpr (http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/CPRAndECC/HandsOnlyCPR/Hand...) to give people a better chance of survival than doing nothing.

To give others the best chance of survival in a cardiac emergency take a CPR and First Aid class. Next Step CPR and Safety Training is now holding classes in a new location in Denver, Colorado to try and better serve the communities needs for becoming better trained to save lives. Our next class at our new location is being held on July 27th of 2013. Sign up here (http://www.nextstepcpr.com/class-schedule/)