Cover Story: CPR, a lifesaving skill for all ages to know
By Gerald Hay
Dee Berger knows the importance of learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
A year ago, her husband Steve suffered a life-threatening emergency after falling in their Leawood home. She comforted and treated him as best she could, prayed and called for an ambulance.
“When the 911 operator asked if I knew CPR, I was left feeling so helpless and hopeless of the outcome from my husband’s fall since I did not have any CPR training,” Berger said. “At that time, I realized my knowing or not knowing CPR procedure could be the difference between surviving or passing away for my husband.”
A year later, she was among eight volunteers who participated in a test run of an inaugural First Aid and CPR for Older Patients program by Johnson County MED-ACT. The classes will be offered to the public on Oct. 28 in Olathe and on Nov. 4 in Overland Park.
The volunteers listened to various topics to be presented in the upcoming classes and tested their CPR skills on “five little patients” on the floor and tables. They included Herschel Davis, Roger Samuel, Veronica Lebeau, Shelly Minton, Tim and Joan Mabry, and Mulugeta Asfaw.
Joe Folsom, captain in MEDACT’s Education Division, a paramedic for 22 years and instructor in the new program, thinks CPR training is crucial – even lifesaving – for everyone at any age to know.
“Older adults and caregivers should take the time to learn CPR and other skills because more than likely, a loved one will suffer a medical emergency while in their home,” he said. “Help from emergency services may be minutes away. If immediate CPR is used, you can double or triple someone’s chances of survival.”
When to use CPR
The new MED-ACT program targets aging adults and caregivers by educating more potential bystanders in basic life-saving skills; differences in signs of a stroke, heart attack and heart arrest; and when cardiopulmonary resuscitation is needed.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that approximately 385,000 cardiac arrests occurred in 2022 where the patient was not in a hospital setting, and the survival rate for these patients was only 10%. CPR can improve the odds if performed in the first few minutes of cardiac arrest by helping to maintain blood flow from the heart to the brain. Last year, MED-ACT transported 348 patients 60 or older who suffered a cardiac arrest.
Approximately 69% of the cardiac arrests in Johnson County occur at home. The CDC reports less than half of the people who experience cardiac arrests at home don’t receive the help they need from bystanders before an ambulance arrives.
According to Johnson County EMS Systems, The bystander CPR rate in Johnson County was 68.5% compared to a national average of 40%.
“The skills involved for cardiopulmonary resuscitation do not change for an older adult,” Folsom said. “A person who needs CPR should be moved to the floor, but if that is not physically possible, CPR anywhere is better than no CPR at all.”
Almost everyone can perform CPR
One of the biggest benefits in hands-only, also called compression-only, cardiopulmonary resuscitation is that it can be performed by just about anyone at any age at any time. The process does not require mouth-to-mouth breathing for adults.
Immediate steps include:
- Call 911.
- Start and continue chest compressions so that the chest is compressed at least 2 inches from its normal state using your entire body weight, not just your arms. The palm of the hand should be placed about two-finger widths above the bottom of the sternum.
- Push hard and fast in the center of the victim’s chest at a rate of 100 to 120 compressions a minute until emergency personnel arrive.
“It’s going to look kind of violent if you’re doing it right,” Folsom said, adding that doing fewer compressions is far, far better than zero compressions.
“You have to do what you can do,” he explained.
‘Staying Alive’
Performing that many compressions per minute, often suggested to the beat of the Bee Gees song “Staying Alive,” is challenging and tiring, especially for older adults. Paramedics usually perform CPR for up to two minutes before having others continue life-saving efforts.
“The song is quite apropos to what we are trying to accomplish with CPR – staying alive,” Dee Berger quipped.
According to the CDC, the risk for falls, heart disease and strokes increases with age.
Last year, 52% of the 44,156 calls for Johnson County MED-ACT involved a patient over the age of 65. More than half of the total calls involved older adults who have fallen.
“National data shows one in four older adults will fall each year,” Folsom said.
The First Aid and CPR for Older Patients program emphasizes exercising to improve balance and strength, removing tripping hazards and adding safety features, such as hand railing on both sides of the stairs and grab bars where needed.
The use of hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation depends on the medical emergency.
Cardiac arrest is a sudden, unexpected loss of heart function, breathing and consciousness. If someone experiences sudden cardiac arrest, it is essential to start CPR as quicky as possible to prevent brain injury, heart damage or even death.
“If a person goes into cardiac arrest suffering from a shockable rhythm, the chance of survival decreases by 7%-10% for every minute that CPR is delayed, so a five-minute delay could mean a decrease in survival of 35-50%,” Folsom said.
Cardiac arrest vs. heart attack
The CDC reports the average age for a heart attack is 64.5 for men and 70.3 for women.
A heart attack is not the same as a cardiac arrest. A heart attack happens when blood flow to the heart is blocked, resulting in chest pains, discomfort and shortness of breath. A person having a heart attack often is talking but most importantly still breathing. Heart attack, however, increases the risk for going into cardiac arrest.
“As long as a person having a heart attack is alert and breathing, there is no need for CPR. But if that individual’s heart stops beating, cardiopulmonary resuscitation could be a lifesaver,” Folsom said.
CPR vs. stroke
A stroke is a medical emergency that occurs when blood stops flowing to part of the brain. Symptoms include face drooping, arm weakness and speech difficulty. CPR is provided if the person becomes unresponsive, stops breathing normally or is only able to gasp for air.
Steve Berger has Lewy Body Dementia and Parkinson’s Disease. In his medical emergency in April 2022, he suffered a tonic-clonic (gran mal) seizure, causing a traumatic brain injury when he fell head-first in the bathroom.
Dee Berger, his wife of 53 years, said her husband seized then went limp, was despondent and unresponsive. The MED-ACT ambulance arrived while she was talking to the 911 operator. MED-ACT personnel began emergency treatment and transported him to the hospital. He did not require CPR since his heart did not go into arrest.
“At the hospital, he did have a severe concussion, luckily nothing else,” she said. “Just so grateful paramedics arrived so quickly.”
Steve Berger survived the medical emergency, but as with dementias, the fall and seizure exasperated his dementia and memory loss.
Dee Berger, who has been her husband’s home caregiver for six years, says she now has additional knowhow for if and when another life-threatening situation occurs.
“Every home caretaker should know CPR,” she said. “I think the training should be available all the time for us who are in our senior years.”