Deep breath time...

Here's a heart warming story that was on the wires this morning...
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Scout recognized for saving great-grandmother's life

It was a gutsy move for 10-year-old Lane Hardin to tell his grandmother that she was performing CPR incorrectly on his great-grandmother, who was having a stroke.

But the Peaster student’s calm thinking, courage and thorough knowledge of the live-saving method helped save the woman’s life when he stepped in to assist his grandmother as they waited for an ambulance to arrive.

When Lane learned CPR in the third grade through Cub Scouts, he didn’t think he’d have to use it.

He definitely couldn’t expect to earn a prestigious and rare life-saving award by the age of 11.

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Heart warming? More like heartburn.

In the course of teaching hundreds of Bystander CPR classes over the past five years, I can count on one hand the number of classes where someone wasn't confused about heart attacks, cardiac arrests, and strokes.

That's understandable, but the reporters and editors aren't helping.

A heart attack happens when a coronary artery on the suface of the heart becomes blocked, thus cutting off the blood flow to the heart muscle that artery serves, and leading to the death of that portion of the heart muscle. Get it fixed fast, or it could lead to death or permanent disability.

A stroke happens either when an artery feeding the brain becomes blocked (it's like a heart attack, but in the brain) or (less commonly) when an artery feeding the brain ruptures. Get it fixed fast, or the symptoms you are experiencing could become permanent and worse. Don't ignore a stroke that goes away in 15 minutes.

A cardiac arrest happens when the heart suddenly stops pumping blood. A person in cardiac arrest is clinically dead and will most likely remain so unless those people who saw it happen (a) call 911, (b) begin chest compressions, and (c) get an AED and use it!

Tell me again why someone was performing CPR on a stroke patient? Most likely, the person suffered a cardiac arrest, and the reporter or some editor thinks a cardiac arrest is a stroke.

Why is this important? Hopefully, education will teach enough people what they need to do and why when people suffer a cardiac arrest or a stroke, thus leading to significant improvement in death and disability rates. A campaign to educate people isn't helped by calling things by the wrong name.

Arrrrrgh!