This weekend while my husband and I were at the Cape, trying to soak up the last of the summer rays, we heard sad news of a young child that drowned at one of our town beaches. Our close friends from Maine had actually arrived at the beach around sunset to relax after a long car ride and enjoy a glass of wine, when they heard the distant ambulance and murmur from the remaining beach crowd. We met our friends at a local restaurant later that night and learned of the sobering scene that no doubt seemed to shake them. We learned that a teenage boy had raced to the young child immediately and started to perform CPR. This raised the question: Would I, after a three year lapse, feel confident in giving someone CPR and be able to step into action right away? Accidents are sudden and most of us are usually unprepared. This is what sparked my recent interest in obtaining my CPR certification again, and this is what deepened my interest in spreading the word to my fellow colleagues.
There are many companies that offer training for less than thirty dollars an employee, and classes are usually no more than a few hours long. We can only hope the skills adopted during CPR training never has to be administered, but if just one life can be saved, I would have to argue the training is invaluable.
Becoming trained in CPR can also help professional development. Believe it or not knowing how to administer CPR after taking CPR Course can improve your chances of landing a job. Many employers will hire the candidate with a CPR certification first because they know this candidate will be able to help others in the case of an emergency. Additionally, CPR-certified employees can make valuable addition to volunteer emergency teams that are often assembled by managers.
Here are just a few sobering statistics from the American Heart Association:
- Sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in the United States, with nearly 400,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occurring annually.
- 70 percent of Americans may feel helpless to act during a cardiac emergency because they either do not know how to administer CPR or their training has significantly lapsed.
- Failure to act in a cardiac emergency can lead to unnecessary deaths. Effective bystander CPR provided immediately after sudden cardiac arrest can double or triple a victim’s chance of survival, but only 32 percent of cardiac arrest victims get CPR from a bystander.
- Sadly, less than 8 percent of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside the hospital survive.
Does your company have CPR Certified members on staff? Do you think it’s worth the investment? Let us know in the comments below or Tweet us @TheDavisCos.
