Valley students learn new life-saving technique

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz — A new method of performing a life-saving technique for cardiac arrest victims is being introduced to thousands of middle and high school students in Arizona, including many in the Valley.

CCR, which stands for Cardiocerebral Resuscitation, or "Compression-Only CPR," was developed by the UA Sarver Heart Center in Tucson, Ariz., and is a new form of CPR that is easy to learn, remember and perform. The technique, found to significantly increase survival rates, involves rapid, continuous chest compressions to keep blood moving throughout the body. Unlike conventional CPR, CCR requires no mouth-to-mouth breathing.

Students at some 1,800 schools across the state are now receiving training kits to learn how to perform CCR. The educational kits are part of a campaign called "Your Hands — Their Heart."

"Survival from sudden cardiac arrest can be tripled if bystanders perform effective Compression-Only CPR," says Dr. Bentley Bobrow, medical director, Arizona Department of Health Services, and an emergency medicine physician at Mayo Clinic. "CCR is effective, and students should have no trouble learning and using this method if they witness a cardiac emergency situation." Dr. Bobrow was a member of the UA Sarver Heart Center Resuscitation Research Group that developed CCR.

And students just may encounter such a situation. In Arizona, nearly every hour, someone's heart stops beating. In America, sudden cardiac arrest is the number one killer of adults. In 2005, Gov. Janet Napolitano declared cardiac arrest a public health crisis. Since then, Arizona has become the only state in the nation with a dedicated, statewide program to make a substantial difference in the chance of surviving cardiac arrest.

The Save Hearts in Arizona Registry and Education Program (SHARE) is a collaboration involving the UA Sarver Heart Center, the Arizona Department of Health Services and Mayo Clinic.

"Everything You Need to Learn How to Save a Life" training kits being distributed to Valley middle and high schools contain a short training video, a guide for finding the "heart" that is placed over a pillow as a demonstration and a device for practicing effective chest compressions.

In addition to encouraging Compression-Only CPR training in Arizona schools, SHARE has partnered with several fire departments to promote free CCR classes for the public throughout the state. For more information, see www.azshare.gov.

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Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. As a leading academic medical center in the Southwest, Mayo Clinic focuses on providing specialty and surgical care in more than 65 disciplines at its outpatient facility in north Scottsdale and at Mayo Clinic Hospital. The 244-licensed bed hospital is located at 56th Street and Mayo Boulevard (north of Bell Road) in northeast Phoenix, and provides inpatient care to support the medical and surgical specialties of the clinic, which is located at 134th Street and Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale.

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About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of "the needs of the patient come first." More than 3,300 physicians, scientists and researchers and 46,000 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic, which has sites in Rochester, Minn., Jacksonville, Fla., and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Collectively, the three locations treat more than half a million people each year. To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. For information about research and education visit www.mayo.edu. MayoClinic.com is available as a resource for your health stories.