American Heart Association, sudden cardiac arrest survivor, talk CPR & AED awareness

INDIANAPOLIS — Each year from June 1-7, the American Heart Association makes a push to educate the public about the importance of learning CPR and knowing how to operate an automated external defibrillator, or AED. This knowledge can save lives, and the life you save could be a loved one.

FOX59 spoke with Tim Harms, senior director of communications with the AHA, and Tess Kossow, a woman who survived sudden cardiac arrest at just the age of 37. Kossow is also an author and member of the American Heart Association’s “Go Red for Women” campaign. She shared her story and spoke on the importance of taking health seriously.

For more information from the American Heart Association about CPR and AED education, click here

If you would like to learn more about Tess Kossow’s story, you can visit her personal website by clicking here.

https://fox59.com/news/american-heart-association-sudden-cardiac-arrest-survivor-talk-cpr-aed-awareness/

It's important to know about CPR and AED as about 350,000 Americans a year suffer from a cardiac arrest or a stroke. Their heart stops beating and need somebody to intervene and save their life, and they can do that by doing hands only CPR right away. Only about 50% of those people have someone close to do CPR right away.

It's easy to jump on the chest and start pumping. You don't have to worry about giving breaths. If you push hard on the chest you are circulating oxygen and that's what's going to keep them alive.

People that have a heart attack are usually awake, experiencing that pain. Someone in cardiac arrest, the heart is not beating at all, and that's why it's so important to start pumping on that chest and get the oxygen circulating.