The heart of someone you love suddenly stops. Will you immediately do cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR)?
Penang Youth, Sport and Health committee chairman Daniel Gooi performing CPR on a mannequin under the guidance of Penang Heart Safe Society president Datuk Dr Luah Lean Wah in George Town, Penang
An overwhelming pile of statistical proof shows that if you’ve never had CPR training, you will never dare to do it, said Penang Heart Safe Society president Datuk Dr Luah Lean Wah .
Being trained can equip you to save lives, but the cold fact is that saving someone by administering CPR is an arduous process.
First off, you have to pump deeply enough into the chest to physically move the victim’s heart and usually, you will hear the victim’s ribs cracking as you pump. But the ribs will heal after the victim is saved.
You should mentally play the Bee Gee’s hit song Staying Alive and follow the song’s tempo as you pump to achieve 100 to 120 chest compressions per minute.
If that song is too yesteryear for you, the tempo of many other songs will help you achieve the minimum number of chest compressions such as Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, The Real Slim Shady by Eminem, All Star by Smash Mouth and Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice.
Another challenge is that achieving the required number of chest compressions for even a couple of minutes is exhausting, so if there are others in the room, get them to watch and learn so that everyone can take turns doing it until the ambulance arrives which, depending on traffic, may take some time.
All the above and other necessary knowledge make it crucial for as many people as possible to learn CPR, plus be trained in using an automated external defibrillator (AED), said Dr Luah.
The long term aim, she stressed, was for at least one member in every family in Penang to be trained in CPR and AED.
“When a victim has cardiac arrest, it is critical for someone on the scene to have had CPR and AED training,” she said here yesterday.
Dr Luah said in basic CPR, rescuers need all the energy they could muster to perform chest compressions.
“Imagine if the victim weighed 100kg, and a rescuer could only do 20 to 50 compressions per minute instead of the minimum 100.
“That is why it is important for as many people as possible to know how to do CPR,” she said.
She is glad that based on recent Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) cases, Penangites have a good track record of being first responders.
She said in every case recorded recently, there had been bystanders who knew how to perform CPR before the arrival of medical personnel.
Dr Luah was speaking at a press conference with state health committee chairman Gooi Zi Sen and Penang Youth Development Corporation general manager Dr Gwee Sai Ling yesterday.
Penang will start an event titled “Learn, Save, Go Forward: 2023 CPR & AED Campaign” on Dec 10.
Gooi said 40 CPR and AED instructors would give 45-minute training sessions to all and sundry, and the first session would be held from 8am to 1pm on Dec 10 in collaboration with Zoll Medical Corporation Asia Pacific.
He said 500 Penangites had already signed up so far, and he hoped that 1,000 Penangites would step up to learn CPR and AED in this exercise.
Gooi announced that Penang had more than 300 AED devices put up all over the island in public places, factories and offices.
“We want everyone living in Penang to observe a healthy diet and exercise regularly, and we also want people to know they are safe from SCA.
“We aim to reach a stage where our residents, even senior citizens, will know that help is always available if they suffer from a calamity like SCA,” he said.
Also present during the press conference were Hospital Kepala Batas Emergency Department head Dr Suhaida Hanis Johari, Lam Wah Ee Hospital administrator and ZOLL territory manager Sharon Ngu Chiew Hee.
