Originally published October 14 2005
Heart Association releases its CPR home kit
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The American Heart Association has developed a new strategy for combating cardiac arrest with CPR Anytime, a home kit complete with instructional DVD and blow-up mini mannequin.
If you have a heart attack, your best chance of survival comes if someone performs cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, until paramedics arrive.
In an effort to teach CPR to more people, the American Heart Association is simplifying instruction with a kit that you can use to learn CPR anytime.
The kit was unveiled Wednesday, and while some say it may not be the most effective way of teaching the technique, it is a step in the right direction, reported WCVB-TV in Boston.
As a youth basketball coach, Mike Crotty thought he was in great shape -- until one December day on a stationary bike.
"I was riding along merrily and all of a sudden I just went out," he said.
Nearly 80 percent of sudden cardiac arrests happen at home.
"Right now, only 5 percent of cardiac arrest victims survive.
So that's an awful lot of people who could be helped if people knew CPR," said Kim Redfield of the American Heart Association.
"It's a great product, very easy to use, not intimidating at all," Redfield said.
The kit offers step-by-step instruction for rescue breathing and chest compressions.
The CPR Anytime Kit offers people flexibility and comfort in learning basic CPR skills, but some question how effective the home-style training will be.
Traditionally, CPR has been taught in a course, for certification.
The CPR Anytime kit does not offer certification, but it will give people flexibility and comfort in learning basic CPR skills, reported WISN-TV in Milwaukee.
They can do it at their own pace, in their own home," Redfield said.
Two recent studies suggest CPR is so complicated that not even trained medical staff always do it properly.
Crotty is planning to use the kit to train his student players.
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