The power is in your hands

You are working out at the gym. You hear a loud noise. The person on the treadmill next to you has collapsed and is lying on the floor. You are the first to the man’s side and you realize he is unconscious, not responding to your calls. Would you know what to do next? When this happened in the spring of 2005 in the Tufts fitness center, one of our fellow students immediately started cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and helped saved that man’s life.

Even with the rapid response of Tufts Emergency Medical Services (TEMS) and Tufts University Police Department (TUPD), immediate CPR performed by a bystander helps make the difference between life and death. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), immediate CPR can double or even triple a victim’s chance of survival. The AHA reports that 92 percent of cardiac arrest victims die before getting to the hospital. You can take five minutes from your day to learn CPR and help lower that statistic. It can take only three minutes to learn, and it’s as easy as stopping at the TEMS table in the campus center midday on Monday, Wednesday or Thursday.

CPR in real life is not what it looks like on TV or in the movies. When performing CPR, you are circulating the blood through someone’s body for them, breathing for them, and in some cases, shocking them with electricity with the hope that their heart will restart. The techniques and details of CPR are constantly being researched and improved, but its significance for the survival of sudden cardiac arrest victims remains paramount.

CPR helps keep someone alive, but what’s often needed is an electrical shock, or defibrillation, to help the heart reset. Early defibrillation by an automated external defibrillator (AED) is vital in patients surviving and making a full recovery. When TEMS responds to an asthma attack, allergic reaction or traumatic injury, we are bringing medical equipment and expertise that can help make a difference. However, with sudden cardiac arrest, you can help make that difference before we get there. Both TEMS and the TUPD carry AEDs with us, but AEDs are also available in the Campus Center, fitness center and in many other places you may not have realized. Next time you are at the airport or in the supermarket, notice that AEDs are in public places and are there for you to use.

Bystander CPR helped make the difference in the spring of 2005. In the other cardiac arrests that have occurred on campus since 2005, and in the almost 30 years TEMS has existed, it is rare that bystanders performed CPR before TEMS arrived. You can help change that, and maybe save a life.

This week, around the country, collegiate Emergency Medical Services (EMS) agencies, just like TEMS, are celebrating National Collegiate EMS Week, modeled after National EMS Week in May, sponsored by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and endorsed by Congress. Schools in almost all 50 states will educate people about their respective EMS agency by teaching CPR and first aid and raising awareness about health and safety on campus.

At Tufts, we value active citizenship, everybody doing their part to make the world a better place. To that effect, TEMS is striving to get as many members of the Tufts community trained in CPR as possible. You can take one of our CPR classes and become certified in CPR, or you can learn hands-only CPR in less than three minutes. Come visit us in the Campus Center on Monday 1:30 - 2:30 p.m., Wednesday 10 - 11 a.m. or Thursday 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. and learn a lifesaving skill in less than three minutes. Or just come say hi to some dedicated EMTs. If you or your club, team, fraternity or sorority wants to learn CPR, contact us at tems@tufts.edu.

Anyone can learn CPR, and everyone should. It is a skill that will last you a lifetime, and will go beyond our time at Tufts. I urge you to do your part to make the world a safer place and potentially save a life. The power is, quite literally, in your hands.