Sedona AZ (October 17, 2017) – In a span of a little over five hours, two lives were saved by effective Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). Shortly after 7 p.m. Friday night and again shortly after midnight, Sedona Fire District firefighters and paramedics were called for a pulseless person not breathing. In both cases, CPR was performed until a pulse could be restored. Paramedics call this Return of Spontaneous Circulation or ROSC for short. “The whole the goal of CPR is to return spontaneous circulation in the patient suffering cardiac arrest,” said Captain Jordan Baker, “This is no easy task and to have two saves in a matter of hours is really quite remarkable.”
The first of the two calls occurred in a local restaurant. When fire crews arrived, a bystander was performing CPR. The patient, an 89 year old male, experienced ROSC prior to arriving a Sedona Emergency Center. Later, paramedics successfully revived a 38 year old female at a private residence, shortly before 1 a.m. Saturday morning. Unfortunately, no bystanders were performing CPR on scene. “You just never know when you will need to perform CPR,” explains Jodie Fowler, CPR Instructor with Sedona Fire District, “It is so easy to learn, but for it to be effective, you must practice and know the proper technique.” Statistic from the American Heart Association show that effective bystander CPR can triple your chance of surviving a cardiac arrest event but that only 32% of cardiac arrest victims get CPR from a bystander. Luckily, the second victim also experienced ROSC prior to arrival at VVMC. “Sadly, less than 8% of people that suffer cardiac arrest outside of a hospital survive,” said Fowler, “If more people knew how to perform CPR, we could increase those numbers.”
Sedona Fire District offers monthly CPR and first aid classes. The cost of each is $50 dollars or if you take both classes on the same day the cost is $90 for both. For more information on CPR or First Aid classes, contact Jodi Fowler at 928-282-6800.