VANCOUVER -- If you receive CPR from a bystander when your heart stops, you're four times more likely to survive. But here in the Lower Mainland, only about 1/4 of the people who go into cardiac arrest receive bystander CPR, unlike in Seattle where the number is closer to 60 percent. That's why BC paramedics are moving to expand CPR training program in schools.
Mich Deslauriers, VP Vancouver College, administered bystander CPR, the incident occurred on a football field.
It was on this field just four months ago, that Barry Stewart, a longtime coach collapsed while refereeing a football game.
Barry Stewart is a longtime coach and heart attack victim. He says that when he went down and the next thing he remembered was waking up and somebody working on top of him.
What Barry didn't know at the time was that his friend, competing coach, Mich Deslaurier, had stepped in to do CPR before the paramedics arrived.
Mich Deslauriers says, "I went black. When I went down there too, I know Barry doesn't want to hear that, but I went black, but then it came back to me. I asked God to guide me. God guided me. We went through two rotations and he started breathing on his own again and I was very relieved.
Without bystander CPR, the success of resuscitation is low, even if defibrillators are available.
Dr. Jim Christensen, VP of BC Ambulance Service, Medical Programs, says, "Even if we're very fast, maybe 5-6 or 7 minutes will have elapsed and in that time the heart loses the ability to be resuscitated. Some still can be but far more can be if they've received bystander CPR during those 5-6 minutes.
To get people trained up quickly, BC Ambulance paramedics are going into more high schools around the province. They're training teachers who will then teach CPR to their students. By 2010, it's hoped every grade 9 and 10 student in the province will have the opportunity to learn CPR.
Pascal Rodier, Paramedic Chief of BC Ambulance Service, says, "it's amazing to have this type of experience and this type of training coming up so quickly thru the ranks. Our youth will be involved and they'll be moving up through the workforce and they will be making an incredible impact on our communities and on our safety,"
Basra Arte is a North Surrey Secondary student taking CPR. She thinks the most important skill she learned was to stay calm and take control.
After hearing about Barry's story, students from Vancouver College gave Mich, the vice-principal, a hero award.
Mich Deslauriers says, "Ironically, there were two other people who told me later they had training but they froze for different reasons."
No longer sidelined, Barry is back in the game coaching after having surgery and a pacemaker installed. He's making the most of the extra time, his friend Mich, was able to give him. Every minute he looks at the calendar with his daughter and grandchildren in Australia, every day is precious.
Looking back, Misch says he didn't do CPR totally by the book... Still, experts say in an emergency, it's always better to try than not attempt CPR at all. 911 dispatchers can guide people over the phone. If you'd like to learn CPR, there are many courses offered through St. John's Ambulance, which also sells refresher packages, like this one with a DVD and your own Annie to help you practice. For more information, you can go to www.sja.ca.
Wednesday March 8, 2006
