Editorial: Tool to save lives

Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006 | 7:29 a.m.

The American Heart Association says that with the right equipment - namely, a specially designed inflatable mannequin - people can actually teach themselves to perform CPR.

And that is important, the organization says in a recent Associated Press story, because the electric defibrillators that are now available in such places as the shopping mall and the school football field aren't enough to revive someone who has had a heart attack unless a person also administers cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, or CPR.

Heart attacks kill more than 300,000 Americans annually, with death coming on quickly - in 10 minutes or less - if action isn't taken. With the increased availability of portable automated defibrillators, which deliver an electric shock to get the heart started again, many people have assumed there is no need for CPR. Heart association experts say that isn't true.

Defibrillators provide a jump-start, but CPR keeps the heart pumping and blood circulating through the brain and other organs until the heart resumes beating on its own. And CPR performed in the crucial seconds or minutes before the defibrillator arrives improves a victim's chances of survival, experts say.

Previously, learning to perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation meant finding a class and signing up. That has not always been easy or accessible. Now, for $30, people - or community groups or schools - can obtain the CPR Anytime or "Mini Anne" kit. Inflate Anne and watch a training video that shows how to perform chest compressions and how to breathe into the victim's lungs. Anne's chest "clicks" when the compressions are hard and deep enough.

While completion of the at-home seminar can't substitute for CPR certification - people still must attend a class for that - it could mean the difference between life and death in an emergency. And that is what counts. Someone whose life has been saved by an informed good Samaritan rarely asks to see the certificate.