By Karen Stokes
CPR Training (Photo/American Heart Association)
During Hispanic Heritage month, the American Heart Association started the bilingual campaign ‘Heroes Saving Hearts’ to shine a light on members of this community learning CPR to save lives.
This campaign aims to motivate the Hispanic community to learn the two steps to Hands-Only CPR to help save lives, especially the lives of women.
A recent study finds six out of 10 women who suffer cardiac arrest in public die because witnesses were afraid to give CPR.
“The reason is a lot of it is around fear of being accused of sexual assault or doing harm to a woman,” said Katie Connolly, Executive Director, American Heart Association.
Katie Connolly, Executive Director, American Heart Association. (Photo/American Heart Association)
The Heroes Saving Hearts campaign emphasizes the Good Samaritan Law which protects would-be rescuers from being prosecuted for administering life-saving bystander CPR.
Wisconsin law grants civil immunity to any person rendering emergency care to another at the scene of an emergency or accident.
If you recognize that someone is in cardiac arrest or in distress and you dial 911, the dispatcher can walk you through the proper steps to perform CPR prior to EMS arriving which is key to an individual’s outcome,” said Connolly.
According to the AHA, there are two simple steps of hands-only CPR if you witness a teen or adult suddenly collapse: Call 9-1-1 and Push Hard and Fast in the Center of the Chest until help arrives.
In the United States, Hispanic and Black people are at a higher risk for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with a poor prognosis due to longstanding structural racism and social policies that have limited access to quality education and health care. CPR is also less common in Hispanic and Black neighborhoods.
“Individuals can go to heart.org/cpr, we have information on hands-only CPR. There’s also information on classes if someone needs to or would like to take a full CPR certification course, as well as learning to use an automated external defibrillator (AED). There’s also information on first aid and the release of choking available,” Connolly said.