According to the American Heart Association, there are 350,000 deaths annually that are caused by sudden cardiac arrest. If someone were to collapse in cardiac arrest in your presence, would you know what to do? If you have received certification in CPR and have kept your skills current, then you are ready. However, if you are like the majority of Americans, you probably are not certified in CPR or have taken the course so far in the past that you no longer remember how to properly administer CPR.
Many people may rely on the hope that there will be an AED (automated external defibrillator) available when the situation arrives, but that isn’t always the case. Maybe you’re at home when it occurs; maybe you don’t know where the AED is located; maybe the batteries in the AED have expired. Whatever the reason, depending on access to an AED isn’t a good option.
While taking a CPR course would be a good idea, there is a simpler way to be prepared if someone suffers cardiac arrest in your presence. For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, you can download the Team Life CPR App. Available for ‘Droid, Blackberry, iPhone, and tablets, this app will walk you through the life-saving procedure.
With one click of your device, the app is open and leads you through the steps of CPR. The directions are presented on the screen with pictures and text, while simultaneously presenting them audibly. Using this app can be equated to listening to an instructor in a CPR class.
Every two minutes the user is asked to stop and recheck the patient. Four options are presented: the patient is breathing; an AED is ready to be used; help has arrived; CPR needs to be continued. The user acknowledges the correct option and follows directions accordingly. In addition to aiding the user, this app is useful to medical personnel, as it can let them know how long CPR has been administered for.
As you’re considering whether or not this is a useful app, there is one more piece of data to consider. It takes an average of eight to twelve minutes for emergency medical personnel to arrive; it takes four minutes without a beating heart for a patient to suffer brain damage. For $1.99, doesn’t it make sense to be ready to help save a life?
To learn more, please visit the Team Life website.
Tweet This Post