Learn CPR to Save Someone in Cardiac Arrest

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR is an emergency procedure that is usually performed on people in cardiac arrest and involves creating artificial circulation by pressing on the chest to pump blood through the heart and exhaling into the patient to ventilate the lungs. It's one of the most basic emergency medical procedures, yet millions of Americans don't know how to perform it.

So why does it matter? According to CNN only 1 in 10 people who suffer cardiac arrest outside of a hospital setting will survive. This means that 9 of 10 will die. The only way to improve this statistic is for Americans to learn CPR.

Getting CPR within minutes is crucial for someone who's suffered from cardiac arrest, as brain death and permanent death start to occur just four to six minutes after the heart stops.

A number of these deaths could be avoided if more people took the initiative to take a CPR class. However, many people just don't want to take the time or expense, but medical experts say that learning how to do it is much easier than it used to be.

In fact, the American Heart Association has introduced a new CPR training kit called CPR Anytime and it was created to help more people learn this life-saving skill. In a one-hour session, you can learn how to perform CPR using this kit. It's then suggested that you take the kit home and share the information with five people. Each of your friends can then borrow your kit or buy one of their own and share the information with five more friends hopefully increasing the number of trained life savers exponentially.

The American Heart Association says that the kit does not replace an actual CPR course or certification but it could indeed save a life.

Anyone interested in learning where they can take a CPR class or those interested in purchasing a CPR Anytime Kit, can visit either the American Red Cross or the American Heart Association's websites to find a class in your area or learn more about it.