There’s no telling what could happen in the future. One minute, you and your colleagues are in a meeting and suddenly, someone’s on the floor, having a heart attack. The Centers for Disease and Prevention Control has said that about 735,000 Americans have a heart attack every year. Out of that figure, about 525,000 people are having a heart attack for the first time.
What The Numbers Say
Those are huge numbers. But what’s even more alarming is the fact that about 70 percent of Americans don’t know how to perform life-saving measures, the US News reported. Imagine the lives that could’ve been saved if only more people knew how to perform CPR or BLS. That could be you, a colleague or someone you love.
Benefits Of BLS Training
So if you’re wondering if you should go ahead and get BLS certification, we list down 3 of the best reasons why you should:
- 1. It saves lives. There’s no greater satisfaction than knowing you’ve helped save a life, that you’ve done your part to ensure someone still gets to come home to his family or be there for Thanksgiving.
- 2. When you do basic life saving techniques such as CPR, you don’t actually restart someone’s heart. Rather, you help him or her keep the blood pumping throughout the body. That means oxygen gets into the brain as well. Since you only have 4 to 6 minutes after the oxygen has been cut off before brain damage starts, BLS helps keep the brain’s oxygen supply steady, keeping brain damage and other possible complications at bay.
- 3. It ensures faster victim recovery. Administering BLS techniques early on makes a difference in the patient’s rate of recovery. The sooner you carry out CPR or resuscitation measures, the better the patient’s chances at recovery will be.
Other Tips
- 1. Go to a refresher course. Healthsafety says CPR knowledge retention falls in as short as 3 months. You never know when an emergency might involve someone you love. So keep your skills up to date.
- 2. A lot of cardiac arrests happen at home. To ensure the safety and health of your loved ones, get everyone enrolled in a BLS course.
- 3. Be first-aid ready. Accidents happen quite frequently at homes too. Make sure you know how to do first aid and keep your first aid kit stocked at all times.
For more information on CPR and First Aid courses, contact us at Simple CPR.
