Saved by CPR: A story of preparedness

Each year, sudden cardiac arrest claims the lives of nearly 300,000 people throughout the country. The national average of cardiac survival rate is seven percent. However, Leon County has an average cardiac survival rate of 33 percent. While we are making progress, this number still needs to improve. Leon County Emergency Medical Services data shows that Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is performed only 20 percent of the time by bystanders in the community prior to EMS arrival. Knowing the importance of CPR, Leon County Government hosts “Press the Chest,” a free annual community-wide CPR training event.

Leon County resident and Florida State Alumna, Brittany Williams, visited New York City last December with her family. The vacation started like many others, Brittany and her family watched the ACC Championship at a bar in Times Square, where they cheered on their Seminoles. Ten minutes after their arrival, Brittany suddenly slumped down in her chair. Not knowing what to do, her family yelled for a doctor, hoping that someone could figure out what was wrong. Two optometry residents, who didn’t know each other, checked for a pulse and found none. After taking turns doing chest compressions and administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, paramedics arrived and used an automated external defibrillator (AED) to shock her heart back into rhythm.

Like many bystanders that day, a majority of people say they feel helpless to act because they don’t know how to perform CPR. Leon County’s fifth annual “Press the Chest” CPR training event, gives people the confidence to act and save lives. The event will be from 10 a.m. until noon Saturday, June 27, at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, 505 W. Pensacola St. On-site registration is scheduled from 9:30 a.m. until 10 a.m. The event will be hosted in collaboration with the Florida Department of Health in Leon County, Florida A&M University Student Health Services, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and Capital Regional Medical Center and the Tallahassee Democrat.

Although Brittany barely remembers what happened after getting to the bar, she is alive today because someone knew CPR. Shortly after Brittany’s sudden cardiac arrest, her and her family became trained in CPR and how to use an AED. “CPR training events are amazing. People lose their lives daily because bystanders don’t know CPR,” Williams said. “Events like ‘Press the Chest’ help raise awareness, train more people and spread the word.”