Cardiac arrest: the ultimate emergency
“I’m one lucky guy … Now every day is a bonus” After suffering cardiac arrest during a curling match, Keith Switzer is alive today because his fellow curlers knew how to use CPR and the club’s defibrillator.
How research can triple survival rates Dr. Sheldon Cheskes has devoted his career to improving survival from cardiac arrest.
Bystander CPR and AEDs a winning combination Dr. Sheldon Cheskes explains how an ambitious cross-Canada research project will help save more lives from cardiac arrest. The Canadian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (CanROC) seeks to create a national cardiac arrest registry and improve survival rates.
Problem: “Prior to the research we did under CanROC, no one knew about the impact of CPR,” Dr. Cheskes says. “It’s through that funded research that we were able to understand that the quality of CPR made a huge difference.”
Solution: “The research helped double and triple cardiac arrest survival rates in the sites that participated,” Dr. Cheskes adds. “We want to see every patient get excellent care for sudden cardiac arrest, including bystander CPR and the application of an automated external defibrillator (AED), so that we can maximize survival. “Learning to use an AED is easy and also extremely important for survival. We hope to see them as commonly as fire extinguishers in public places.”
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Saving one life at a time Dr. Cheskes shares a story about a group of cyclists who’d been trail riding together for 20 years. One day, 10 minutes into a ride, one of them collapsed. He was in cardiac arrest.
We all hope we’ll never suffer a serious medical emergency. But if we do, we keep our fingers crossed that the good Samaritans around us will take action to save our lives. Keith Switzer was fortunate to have those people and the right equipment when he went into cardiac arrest during a curling championship in BC. An on-ice official and a fellow curler quickly began chest compressions. Then a club worker used the facility’s AED to shock Keith’s heart back to life, all before paramedics arrived on the scene.
Another rider performed CPR until an ambulance arrived 30 minutes later, then paramedics used a defibrillator to shock the man’s heart before rushing him to the hospital.
Dr. Cheskes tells this story often to stress the critical role of “bystander CPR.” “Cardiac arrest is the ultimate emergency,” he says. “Without bystander CPR their friend would have died, not a question. The greatest chance of surviving cardiac arrest is when a bystander performs CPR.”
Cardiac arrest is the abrupt loss of heart function as a result of malfunction in the heart’s electrical system. It happens once every 13 minutes in Canada — and fewer than half of people get CPR before paramedics arrive.
CPR: The one lesson we all need To learn how to save a life through CPR, first aid, or with the use of an AED, please visit: www.heartandstroke.ca/cpr
"There is value and need for the devices," says Keith. "I'm one lucky guy," he says. "Without those three... and without an AED, I don't know where I'd be."
101-year-old donor happy to give
Just weeks later, he was home with his family.
What is cardiac arrest?
Without CPR and AED intervention, approximately 10% of Canadians will survive cardiac arrest. Thanks to Keith’s quick-thinking rescuers — and Heart & Stroke’s placement of hundreds of AEDs in public places across BC, including their curling club — he beat the odds.
Heart & Stroke donor John Ellis, 101.
John Ellis likes to joke that he’s been supporting Heart & Stroke for, oh, about 473 years. John supports Heart & Stroke for a very simple reason: Because he believes it’s doing important work in a vital area of our lives. He hopes others will follow his lead in supporting life-saving research. “Heart & Stroke is doing a great job and is staffed by some very knowledgeable people,” says John. His longstanding support traces back over 60 years when he became President of the Board. “I put a little money into it and I still do,” he says.
Born in Montreal in 1915, the retired banker, WWII army officer, and former head of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce credits a healthy diet and lifestyle for his long life. John was happily married for 67 years, enjoyed a wonderful career, and has three children, 10 grandchildren and a seventh great-grandchild on the way. He attended Lower Canada College in Montreal where the school motto is Non Nobis Solum – not by ourselves alone – which has been part of his philosophy for the last 95 years. “It’s a great motto and it’s one everybody should try to live by,” says Ellis.
His enthusiasm for life is contagious and he strives to maintain a sense of laughter, love and humour everyday.
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