How to save a life with CPR

Every year, more than 350,000 people go into cardiac arrest outside of a hospital setting in the United States. CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, can help double or triple survival rates. In this episode, we'll explain the basics of this emergency procedure so you can feel empowered to help in a life-or-death situation. This episode originally published on October 26, 2023. Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekit https://www.instagram.com/nprlifekit/?hl=en Sign up for our newsletter here. https://www.npr.org/newsletter/life-kit Have an episode idea or feedback you want to share? Email us at [email protected] mailto:[email protected] Support the show and listen to it sponsor-free by signing up for Life Kit+ at plus.npr.org/lifekit http://plus.npr.org/lifekit See pcm.adswizz.com https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This message comes from Charles Schwab with their original podcast, Choiceology. Choiceology is a show about the psychology and economics behind people's decisions. Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com/podcast.

• 0:15Marielle Segarra?

  You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

• 0:20Marielle Segarra?

  Hey, everybody. It's Marielle. Every year, more than 350,000 people go into cardiac arrest outside of the hospital in the US, meaning their heart stops beating. Could be because of a heart attack or because they choked on something. There are a lot of causes. And people without existing heart conditions can also go into cardiac arrest. But maybe the more shocking statistic is this one.

• 0:45Speaker 02

  Only about 40% of people who suffer from cardiac arrest receive CPR from a bystander or layperson.

• 0:54Marielle Segarra?

  That's Catherine Y. Brown, the founder of Learn CPR America.

• 0:59Speaker 02

  I have been teaching CPR for over 30 years. This is three decades of my life.

• 1:05Marielle Segarra?

  Catherine's mom was a CPR instructor with the American Heart Association. And Catherine went on to open a CPR company on the South Side of Chicago, where she's from. Now, at first, nobody signed up. So she packed up her mannequin and started going door to door. Like, knock, knock. Hello? If someone in this house went into cardiac arrest, would you know what to do?

• 1:26Speaker 02

  I used to go into housing projects, biker bars, interrupt people's family reunions who I didn't know.

• 1:32Marielle Segarra?

  That's how she got her nickname, the CPR lady.

• 1:35Speaker 02

  Oh, that's just the CPR lady. If you let her teach you CPR, she'll teach you and then she'll leave you alone. But if you don't let her teach you, she's gonna keep bugging you, so.

• 1:45Marielle Segarra?

  Catherine is a CPR evangelist because, she says, it can make a difference. This is life or death.

• 1:52Speaker 02

  I'm not so sure that people hear that enough to know that a cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at any time. And just doing CPR, you can double and triple survival rates. And this is what we need. We need lives to be saved.

• 2:09Marielle Segarra?

  On today's episode of Life Kit, we're going to teach you the basics of how to do CPR on adults, children, and infants. We'll go over things like, does this person actually need CPR? How do I do it? How fast? Should I give them breaths, too? And when do I stop? We'll also talk about how to use an AED, if there's one available. That's a machine that can deliver a shock to restore a person's heart rhythm. Oh, by the way, in reporting this episode, Life Kit producer Sylvie Douglas and I took a Red Cross certification course for CPR and first aid. So you'll hear audio from that class, too.

• 2:43Speaker 03

  Oh, my God, she saved your patient! Congratulations!

• 2:51Speaker 04

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• 2:55Speaker 00

  This message comes from ProLon with their five-day fasting-mimicking diet, a clinically-developed nutrition program with the goal of promoting fat loss while protecting lean body mass. Learn more at prolonlife.com/NPR.

• 3:09Speaker 00

  This message comes from Charles Schwab with their original podcast, Choiceology. Choiceology is a show about the psychology and economics behind people's decisions. Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com/podcast.

• 3:23Speaker 04

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• 3:55Marielle Segarra?

  What is CPR? What does it even stand for?

• 3:57Speaker 02

  CPR stands for cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. So when you are dealing with an event where someone needs CPR, something has happened to cause their heart to suddenly stop beating.

• 4:15Speaker 02

  That's why we need more people to be the beat because your hands are actually doing what the heart cannot do for itself at that moment. So cardio is referring to the heart. Pulmonary is referring to the lungs for resuscitation. We're trying to bring them back.

• 4:33Marielle Segarra?

  What are some of the things that can cause someone to go into cardiac arrest or have their heart stop beating?

• 4:39Speaker 02

  So when we think about a cardiac arrest, that person's heart has stopped, right? Think about the word, rest means to stop. The heart is not doing anything. There are many things that lead to a cardiac arrest, but the reality is that sometimes the cause can be completely unknown. No one has a sign on that says, hey, at 12 noon today, I'm gonna go into cardiac arrest. It doesn't happen like that. A lot of times it's sudden, it's unexpected, no known cause.

• 5:11Marielle Segarra?

  So in our class, they told us the first thing you want to do in a situation where someone is unconscious, or you think they need help, is to make sure that the scene is safe. And then after that, how do you know if this is a situation where someone needs CPR?

• 5:29Speaker 02

  So when you come upon the person, let's say we have a teenager or an adult that's suddenly collapsed, you want to tap hard as you can on those shoulders and you're gonna say, hey, are you okay?

• 5:43Speaker 03

  So you want to do the shout tap shot. You want to tap their shoulders and you want to yell in their ear. You want to say, hey, hey, hey, hey, are you okay? Are you okay? The idea is that if there's any chance that this person is still conscious, right? You want to try to wake them up.

• 6:00Speaker 02

  You're looking for any signs of life. Do you see that chest rising or falling? Do you feel any airflow? If you don't see any signs of life at all, quickly call 911.

• 6:14Speaker 03

  If you have bystanders available, you want to make sure that you are explicitly telling people what to do. So you want to point directly at your bystander and you want to say, "Hey, you, online one month." Because a lot of people will panic, right? They might not know what to do. So if you give them direct instructions, right? The higher this person's chances of survival will be.

• 6:36Speaker 02

  If I like to say "you" in the orange shirt, or the red shirt, or if you know the person by name, just make sure that they know it's them and that you see and acknowledge that they actually call for help. If you're alone, you can put it on a speakerphone, but you definitely want to get help. Remember, you never, ever want to be in a situation where you think it's safer to get in your car and drive. You don't want to do that because the paramedics and personnel that arrive on the scene, they have equipment, they're highly trained. So you want to get help as soon as absolutely possible.

• 7:13Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, but you don't want to stop and check for a pulse, right? Why is that?

• 7:17Speaker 02

  People were checking for a pulse longer than 10 seconds. Time was being lost. It only takes four to six minutes to suffer irreversible brain damage. So by taking that step away, especially when we're dealing with non-medical personnel, you want to simplify the steps.

• 7:38Marielle Segarra?

  Got it. Okay. And so when you are starting to push like that, you cross your, you put your hand, one hand over the other and press with the heel of your hand. But you said in the center of the chest. Is that basically like right between the person's nipples?

• 7:52Speaker 02

  Well, let me say this. Okay, I'm gonna give you the PG version that you'll never forget, right? I despise the nipple example. I think it's the worst reference ever known to man. Because I have four children. They are 30, 23, 22, and 15. And I breastfed my children. That's the worst example because my nipples might not live where your nipples live at anymore.

• 8:20Marielle Segarra?

  I appreciate that. That is a good point.

• 8:22Speaker 02

  Yes, right. So yeah, that no. So kneel at the person's side. Put the heel of the hand in the center of the chest. Keep our arms straight. Elbows locked. You're pushing straight down at least two inches. So when you're kneeling at that person's side, you remember you you're bending at the waist. You're pulling the heel of your hand in the center of the chest. You interlock those fingers if you're able. Your arms straight. Elbows locked. Push straight down at least two inches deep. As hard as you can, and we do it to 120 beats a minute. Two familiar songs. The cadence kind of helps you push, push, push.

• 9:15Speaker 02

  Stand Alive, Stand Alive.

• 9:26Marielle Segarra?

  Yeah, I could totally picture that. Um, so you mostly teach hands-only CPR, meaning you don't teach people who aren't medical professionals generally to do rescue breaths. Why is that?

• 9:40Speaker 02

  So research shows that hands-only CPR is almost equally as effective as traditional CPR. That's going to be that CPR with the rescue breaths. Why? Because it was initiated and people started doing those chest compressions. I think people get that confused and they say, well, CPR doesn't have any breaths at all. And that's not true. It's just that, for for example, consider me. I'm walking in grocery stores and gas stations and teaching people. I've got to take a complex topic, break it down into a simple step that they can remember.

• 10:19Marielle Segarra?

  Okay. And then. If you are going to attempt the rescue breaths, you have to tilt back the person's head a little bit, right?

• 10:26Speaker 02

  Yes. Place one hand on the person's forehead, pull the head back, two fingers under the chin. And when you get ready to give a rescue breath, you've got the airway open, right? Press your mouth over theirs. Give a breath just until you see the chest rise. Next breath, and then you're going to go back to chest compression. Thirty chest compressions followed by two breaths. So thirty and two, thirty and two.

• 10:51Marielle Segarra?

  What about if you're giving CPR to a child or to a baby? How is it different?

• 10:56Speaker 02

  So in many instances, research shows that there was something respiratory in nature sometimes that led to the child or the infant needing CPR. They also have a smaller lung capacity. For that reason, regular, traditional CPR, CPR chest compressions and rescue breaths is recommended for children and infants.

• 11:27Marielle Segarra?

  Yeah, it can be harder to explain with a baby, the positioning, like how you actually give CPR to a baby because your hands are so much bigger than their chest. In our class, they taught us to wrap our hands around the baby and press with our thumbs in the center of the chest.

• 11:45Speaker 02

  And many people refer to that as a two thumbs encircling hand technique. And you use your thumbs at the same time and you're pushing. Correct. And I say for people who want to learn on children and infants to take a traditional CPR class, there are classes happening all around the world.

• 12:10Marielle Segarra?

  We'll have more Life Kit after the break.

• 12:21Speaker 04

  Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors.

• 12:25Speaker 00

  This message comes from ProLon with their five-day fasting mimicking diet, a clinically-developed nutrition program with the goal of promoting fat loss while protecting lean body mass. Learn more at prolonlife.com/NPR.

• 12:39Speaker 04

  This message comes from Charles Schwab with their original podcast, Choiceology. Hosted by Katie Milkman, an award-winning behavioral scientist and author of the bestselling book, How to Change. Choiceology is a show about the psychology and economics behind people's decisions. Hear true stories from Nobel laureates, historians, authors, athletes, and more about how to make better decisions to help avoid costly mistakes. Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com/podcast or wherever you listen.

• 13:10Marielle Segarra?

  So now, when you tell someone, "Hey, you call 911," you can also tell them to look for an AED machine. Let's talk about the AED. What is it?

• 13:20Speaker 02

  The AED is an automated external defibrillator, which is a portable medical device. It has voice prompts and is designed to analyze that person's heart rhythm during a cardiac arrest, and if necessary, it will deliver a shock. You can find them in schools, public places, airports, sometimes shopping centers, and casinos, of all places. You get a better chance of finding an AED in a casino than you do in underserved communities, and we've got to do something about that. There are disparities that exist between layperson

• 14:03Speaker 02

  or bystander CPR rates and AED use because there is a lack of resources in our communities of color, rural communities, and also low-income neighborhoods. But let's talk about the AED. So the most important step with the automated external defibrillator is just to turn it on.

• 14:30Speaker 02

  When you turn it on, it has voice prompts and you're gonna see some pads inside of it. And it will say,

• 14:37Speaker 05

  Apply pads to patient's bare chest.

• 14:40Speaker 02

  Apply pads to patient's bare chest. Plug in pad connector next to flashing light. So, once you apply those pads to the victim's chest, the device will say analyzing heart rhythm.

• 14:56Speaker 05

  Analyzing heart rhythm.

• 14:58Speaker 03

  It's gonna start analyzing. So, as soon as it starts analyzing, you wanna say what?

• 15:01Speaker 05

  Do not touch the patient.

• 15:02Speaker 03

  Clear.

• 15:04Speaker 02

  You want to make sure that you don't touch the patient and you're gonna tell everybody around to stand clear.

• 15:12Speaker 05

  Clear the pa- shock advised.

• 15:16Speaker 05

  Charging.

• 15:17Speaker 03

  We wanna make sure that we say clear again.

• 15:19Speaker 05

  Be clear of patient.

• 15:23Speaker 05

  Deliver shock now. Press the orange button now.

• 15:27Speaker 03

  You wanna make sure you give a clear before you shock.

• 15:30Speaker 05

  Shock delivered.

• 15:31Speaker 03

  And then get ready to start.

• 15:34Speaker 05

  Begin CPR.

• 15:35Speaker 03

  And then we wanna go right back in to our CPR chest compressions and it'll give you a nice little metronome to follow.

• 15:43Speaker 02

  Every two minutes, the device will pause. It will analyze the heart rhythm. Now, if for some reason the device says no shock advised, I want you to go right back to doing chest compressions, get the CPR done and wait for help to get there. Do not stop until help arrives. That's so important.

• 16:08Marielle Segarra?

  If there's more than one person, can you switch off?

• 16:11Speaker 02

  Absolutely. After every five cycles of 30 and 2, you trade off if a person is available.

• 16:20Marielle Segarra?

  So, let's say you haven't taken a class or gotten a certification in CPR, but you know this much now.

• 16:29Marielle Segarra?

  You're in a situation, no one else around you is like officially trained in CPR. Should you try it?

• 16:35Speaker 02

  Absolutely, absolutely. Even if you have not had formal training, absolutely you should try. Sometimes when I'm teaching and people say, I don't want to hurt the person. And I say, you can't kill a dead person. That you, you can't kill a dead person. Their heart has stopped. A person who in good faith administers emergency care at the scene of an emergency is not liable in civil damages for an act performed during the emergency unless the act is willfully and wantingly negligent.

• 17:15Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, that's good to know. So who should take a CPR class, like the one that Sylvie and I took?

• 17:21Speaker 02

  Everyone. And you've heard that first from your CPR lady. Everyone should know CPR. You learn stop, drop and roll. You learned all these different things. I believe that CPR should be just the standard. You're never too young. My, my son, when he was little, he's 15 now, I would put his teddy bear on the floor and he'd push on the teddy bear. Why? Because that's what he knew mommy doing, right? I have something called the AED game. Their parents don't like me, but it's really cool. This is how it goes. I tell them what the AED is, how to use it. And then every time they go past the AED machine, if their parent doesn't notice it, then they have to give the child $20.

• 18:06Speaker 02

  The parent's like, $20? I'm like, inflation, times are hard. So the key is, what, what am I teaching them? I'm teaching them to look for what? The AED, to notice it, to pay attention to it. So I send, you know, my CPR heroes out there. Why? Because they remember it. And it's not about the money. It's just about finding fun ways to get the message. When we have sporting events, there are commercials that come up during sporting events. There should be CPR commercials showing at sporting events. Every household needs to have someone trained in CPR. If not, you're going to have people like me that will continue to knock on doors.

• 18:47Marielle Segarra?

  Kathryn, you are the best. Thank you so much. This has been great.

• 18:51Speaker 02

  Thank you so much.

• 18:53Marielle Segarra?

  All right, it's time for a recap. When you come upon an adult who appears unconscious and unresponsive, if the situation is safe for you to approach, you're going to tap them on the shoulders hard and say, "Hey, hey, are you okay?" If they don't respond, quickly look to see if their chest is rising and falling with breath. If not, you want to call 911 and then start CPR. Now, if you're alone, put your phone on speaker and call 911 as you start CPR. But if there are other folks around, look at one person and say, "Hey, you, call 911," and then find the AED machine. You want to make sure they hear you and understand the task. Okay, so CPR on an adult or a teenager. Basically, it comes down to push hard and fast in the center of their chest.

• 19:38Marielle Segarra?

  You want to go about two inches deep. As Kathryn mentioned, there are several songs you can use to pace yourself, and the classic one is "Staying Alive." If you choose to do rescue breaths, the cadence is 30 chest compressions and then two breaths into the person's mouth. And you can use a barrier if there's one available, like in a first aid kit. If there's an AED available, turn it on, put the pads on the person's chest, and follow the prompts. If you're administering a shock, make sure no one is touching the victim, including you. And then after the shock, you go back to giving CPR until the person wakes up or help arrives. You're going to keep the pads on their chest while you're doing this. With children and infants, rescue breaths are always recommended.

• 20:22Marielle Segarra?

  Also, for infants, you're going to use something called the encircling thumbs technique. You can find a diagram of that online. These are the basics, but we would absolutely recommend that you take a training course, like I did. And now I'm certified for two years. Practicing hands-on made me feel more confident and empowered in case the situation ever comes up.

• 20:44Marielle Segarra?

  Hey, before we go, I have a favor to ask. If you have a second, would you leave Life Kit a five-star review? If Life Kit has ever helped you save a little money, make a healthier choice, or if we've just made you feel a little more seen, a five-star review is a great way to show your support. And thank you. This episode of Life Kit was produced by Sylvie Douglas. Our visuals editor is Beck Harlan, and our digital editor is Malika Gharib. Megan Kane is our senior supervising editor, and Beth Donovan is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tagel, Mika Ellison, Claire Marie Schneider,

• 21:20Speaker 04

  and Margaret Serino.

• 21:21Marielle Segarra?

  Engineering support comes from Valentina Rodriguez Sanchez. I'm Mariel Segarra. Thanks for listening.

• 21:29Speaker 04

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