SAN ANTONIO – If someone went into cardiac arrest in front of you, would you know how to save them?
That’s a question a local girl and the American Heart Association want the San Antonio community to think about.
One of those people is 12-year-old Bianca Ximenez, who KSAT checked in with this week.
A nurse saved her when she went into cardiac arrest back in May, and she’s been highlighted by the American Heart Association as an example of why knowing CPR is so important.
The American Heart Association is holding its annual Heart and Stroke Walk on Saturday, where they will be doing CPR training on site.
Courtney Friedman went out to the college Friday for her own CPR lesson.
“We’re trying to get these bystanders activated into lifesavers,” said Jordan Campos, the American Heart Association region consultant for Nation of Lifesavers. “When we’re doing this, we’re essentially acting as an external heart. We have to keep pressing the heart so it’s beating and the blood is being pumped to the vital organs like the brain and the lungs.”
Campos travels around the entire six-state region teaching CPR.
She said hands-only CPR for adults and older kids is just two simple steps:
1. Call 911
2. Put the heel of one hand on the center of the chest and put your other hand on top of the first. Push hard and fast to the beat of songs like “Staying Alive” or even “Baby Shark.” That’s 100 to 120 compressions per minute.
The American Heart Association even has a playlist of songs that are the perfect speed for CPR.
Campos said in a full CPR training course, mouth-to-mouth rescue breaths are taught but not required in a real-life situation.
“The reason we’re advocating for hands-only is because there’s a lot of reasons people aren’t doing CPR. The mouth-to-mouth is kind of intimidating to people, and the most important part is that we keep that heart beating,” Campos said.
When it comes to infants, Campos said CPR requires administering breaths.
“With infants, a lot of the time the reason they’ve gone into cardiac arrest is because it’s a respiratory issue,” she said. “So the breaths are going to be really important in that situation. We advocate for hands-only CPR for adults and teens because that’s a situation where we’ve just got to keep the heart pumping and we don’t have to worry about the breaths if that’s going to be a barrier.”
For a demonstration of infant CPR, click here.
Campos will be giving demonstrations at the Heart and Stroke Walk on Saturday at Northeast Lakeview College.
Last year there were about 5,000 people who came to walk, learn and visit with vendors. Dogs are also welcome.
To register, visit the American Heart Association of San Antonio’s website.
The association also just updated its CPR guidelines in October, and the public is encouraged to take a look.
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