Heart Attacks

I have a new question that I pose to everybody I meet. "Would you know what to do if I had a heart attack?"  The scary thing is that almost everybody has either said 'no' or given me the wrong answers. The most common response is ”I would put you in the recovery position" which is not correct.    

This doesn't make me feel very comfortable, especially as last year I was rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack. How reassuring it would be to know that if I did collapse in the street, started choking or stopped breathing somebody near to me would know what to do. Now you might well say 'well she would say that wouldn’t she because she runs Safe and Sound which is a First Aid Training Company. '  But it isn't just about getting more business - it has to be the most important skill that we will ever learn. Why wouldn't we want to learn first aid? 

For some reasons we Brits are really bad at this and I am not sure why. Maybe because it is scary and easier to hope that it will just never happen.  But it happened to Heather who was only 48.

Last year she, a receptionist at Highgate Dental Practice in London had a heart attack just after she arrived at work in the morning. She was fit and healthy and only 48.  Her heart stopped three times and she was in a coma for four days. She survived because the surgery, had she finished their training with us and it was fresh in their minds. Everyone  knew exactly what to do. It is these crucial moments before the ambulance arrives that are so important and it stopped heather from suffering brain damage or dying.

“Had we not had the training, we would have been at a loss,” Dr Hagan explained. “At the early stages, the most important thing is to keep the oxygen circulating around the body. We all worked like clockwork."

 

Here are some interesting heart attack facts.

Overall cardiac arrest survival rate

259 out of 3,246 cardiac arrest patients who ambulance staff attempted to resuscitate survived to be discharged from hospital (8%).

In 2009/10, 237 out of 2,973 cardiac arrest patients treated by ambulances staff survived (also around 8%).

 Around two thirds of cardiac arrests in London occurred in the home (67.7%)

·         Just over a fifth of cardiac arrests occurred in public (20.8%)

·         Between a third and a half of all cardiac arrests were witnessed by bystanders (44.1%)

·         However, bystanders only gave cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in just over a third of all cardiac arrests (36.7%)

·         The average age of a cardiac arrest patient was 68

·         The majority of patients (64%) were male

·         Female patients were on average six years older than males (72 compared with 66)

·         Cardiac arrests occurred most frequently on a Monday

·         The highest number in a single month occurred in December (10.8%) and the fewest in July (6.9%)

Chain of survival and defibrillation

For every minute that a person in cardiac arrest must wait to be defibrillated, their chance of survival decreases by approx 10%.  If a cardiac arrest happens in the home and there is no defibrillator it is important that good quality CPR is carried out to keep the brain oxygenated and the heart pumping.

 It is not rocket science so common guys do yourself a favour and make sure you are prepared.