Cough CPR could kill you.

I’d like to find out who is behind this sort of thing.

There is a dangerous letter making the rounds on the internet. It exists in several forms. It starts by describing typical male heart attack symptoms. It then tells you how to do CPR on yourself by coughing. You don’t do CPR on a heart attack victim – and the last thing a heart attack victim needs is vigorous exercise while his or her oxygen-starved heart muscle is dying. It claims that it was published in some medical school's journal - originally Journal of the University of Rochester Medical School. (This school has publicly denied ever publishing any such article.)

Snopes also covers this: http://www.snopes.com/medical/homecure/coughcpr.asp

Here’s a pseudo power-point version: (with my comments in blue.)

How to improve outcomes

Dr. Bobrow has been a consistent champion of solving the needless death from SCA movement.

Here is a video worth watching.

Bob

Help us build the program!

SLICC is applying to the Pepsi Refresh Everything project for a grant of $250,000 to be used to expand the network of Neighborhood CPR Training Centers in Chatham County and to fund the deployment of 75 public access defibrillators. (AED's)

We will be issuing voting instructions in late September, so if you are willing to help us complete this demonstration project and help us roll this program throughout the U.S.A., please send an email message to BobT@slicc.org with "vote" in the subject line.

Many thanks. It's important.

Bob

Full Circle

Laura Geraghty of North Attleboro received the Heroes Among Us award during Game 5 of the NBA finals at Boston's TD Garden in June. She is surrounded by Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce, left, Brian Taylor, director of compliance and internal audit for the Massachusetts State Lottery and Los Angeles Lakers guard Derek Fisher.

NORTH ATTLEBORO — A local woman who died for 57 minutes before she was revived by CPR and a defibrillator and later used her own CPR skills to revive a man who suffered a heart attack has been honored as a hero at a Boston Celtics game.

Laura Geraghty received the “Heroes Among Us” award, which is given by the Boston Celtics and Massachusetts State lottery to people who have made an exceptional and lasting contribution to the community through their commitment and humanitarian spirit.

She received the award during Game 5 of the NBA finals in June.

“What an honor it was,” Geraghty said. “I got to go down to center court and 18,000 people applauded me, including Bill Belichick and Matt Damon.”

In April 2009, Geraghty suffered cardiac arrest, and her heart stopped beating for 57 minutes. Geraghty was a school bus driver, and had just arrived at Newton South High School with a student in a wheelchair and a teacher’s aide from Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

She was revived through the efforts of multiple bystanders who used CPR and 21 shocks from a defibrillator.

“I survived because I had immediate and effective CPR,” she said.

Geraghty was inspired by the experience to learn CPR, which she used in February to revive a man who had a heart attack while shopping at Walmart.

Since then, Geraghty has been a strong advocate for CPR skills.

“It’s no longer about me. My mission has truly been nothing but teaching the importance of having CPR skills,” she said.

Geraghty was recently interviewed for a documentary called “I Survived: Beyond and Back,” which will air on A&E in October.

Geraghty said her name was sent in by the American Heart Association.

AMY DeMELIA covers North Attleboro for The Sun Chronicle. She can be reached at 508-236-0334 or at ademelia@thesunchronicle.com.

And another save...

Rescue Paramedics and a Bystander who
Knew CPR Save Jogger in Brooklyn

If ever there was proof that bystander CPR saves lives, this would be it.

Just before 8 a.m. on Aug. 17, Rescue Paramedics Eddie Radovic and Sorffly Davius were called to Bedford Avenue and 12th Street in Brooklyn. Paramedic Radovic said bystanders began waving them to the scene when they were about a half block away.

There they found a man in his 50s lying on the ground, with another doing chest compressions on him.

The paramedics grabbed their gear and took over CPR. The victim was in cardiac arrest, so they restarted his heart with a defibrillator. They continued CPR as they moved him to a stretcher and into the ambulance.

But, Paramedic Radovic said they were surprised by what happened on the way to Woodhull Hospital: "He woke up right in front of us, which was kind of a shock. In situations like this, you never really get a chance to speak with the person, but this guy was oriented, looking at me and talking to me."

After the man was admitted to the hospital and EMS members were ready to return to duty, Paramedic Radovic said he checked on the victim one more time. The man thanked them and said he did not have any previous medical conditions and was very fit, so he was surprised by what happened.

Now, although he had some minor discomfort following the incident, he said he otherwise felt fine.

"Everyone was taken aback by how he was progressing," said Paramedic Radovic, who's a 7-year veteran of the FDNY.

Yet the paramedic added that the mystery man who did bystander CPR was critical to saving this man's life: "If he hadn't started CPR initially when [the victim] fell, I don't think he would have had much of a chance."

This was an extra special rescue for Paramedic Radovic, who celebrated his birthday on Aug. 16.

"What a great present," he said with a laugh. "This is why I do what I do."

The FDNY offers free CPR classes in all five boroughs. Learn now!

...and another save

I changed the type to bold in a few interesting places in the story below.

1. First, it might have been true that he didn't feel dizzy, but it's also possible that he doesn't remember.
2. CPR machines are becoming more and more popular. They do a good job, if you can manually continue CPR while the patient is being put on the machine. Interrupting CPR results in lack of blood flow to the brain for whatever time you stop PLUS the time it takes for the first 3 to 8 compressions to get the brain perfusion restored.

Bob

Here's the story:

___________________________________

PORT CHESTER — Jose Estrada could have died on a track at Port Chester High School this summer if White Plains native David Rich and a local emergency medical services team hadn't performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him.

"God protected me and put all these pieces together to keep me alive," Estrada said. "All these people and equipment came together to keep me alive."

Estrada, 56, a married father of two in Port Chester, was getting ready to run June 15 when he suddenly collapsed.

"I walked maybe 200 meters and everything went black," he said. "I didn't have any symptoms and didn't feel dizzy or any pain."

Rich, a Norwalk, Conn., resident who grew up in White Plains, was at the high school getting ready for a softball game by throwing a ball around with his son. All of a sudden, he heard screaming coming from the track.

"I looked over and saw someone face down in the grass area," Rich said. "I ran over there, hurdled over the fence and saw he wasn't breathing and had no circulation. I turned him over, did my quick assessment, and basically I was on autopilot. With no CPR, he would unfortunately not have made it."

Rich told someone to call 911 and continued to perform CPR until a Port Chester-Rye-Rye Brook EMS team arrived.

Rich, who teaches health at Westchester Community College in Valhalla, said it's not the first time he's had to perform CPR on someone.

"I'm CPR-certified, and it seems like every time I have to renew my certification, I have to use my skills," he said. "The running joke is, 'Stay away from Dave when he gets recertified because he might have to use it on you.'"

EMS Capt. Jeffrey Casas said Estrada was suffering from ventricular fibrillation, when the heart beats chaotically and will collapse if not addressed immediately.

"It's considered a lethal rhythm, and essentially, he was dead," Casas said.

The EMS crew took over from Rich and did CPR using a new machine the department bought that does chest compressions on its own. They rushed Estrada to Greenwich (Conn.) Hospital where doctors put him in a medically-induced coma. He woke up two days later.

"I woke up and asked, 'What am I doing here?'" he said. "I didn't know what happened, but quickly, I learned that God protected me."

Estrada is an active runner and said doctors have deemed him in good health. He said doctors haven't been able to explain what triggered his heart problem that day.

After the incident, Estrada, who works as a plant manager for a manufacturing company in Blauvelt, found Rich and thanked him by attending one of his softball games.

"I'm sure it took him a lot of courage to contact me because he doesn't owe me anything," Rich said. "It felt good, though, to get closure; to really know that he's doing well."

He said helping save Estrada's life reminds him "how precious life is" and how everyone should get basic emergency training.

Boy, 9, does CPR to save 2-year-old brother

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS • AUGUST 21, 2010

JOLIET, Ill. - A 9-year-old suburban Chicago boy insists he's not a hero after saving the life of his 2-year-old brother who'd fallen into the family's pool.

Logan Hearn of Joliet used the live-saving skills he learned in a junior lifeguard course to revive his brother Brendan.

The boys' mother, Tabitha Hearn, says she had a sick feeling when she noticed Brendan was missing this week and immediately checked the pool.

The toddler was floating face down and was unresponsive.

She started CPR but was too upset to get far. That's when Logan pushed her aside and took over.

He performed CPR and got his little brother to start breathing again.

Brendan is recovering after a night in the hospital.

The family has taken down the pool.