Most people who suffer sudden cardiac arrest will die simply because bystanders do not know simple resuscitation techniques, according to research.
A public awareness campaign aimed at showing the public how to respond when someone collapses as a result of sudden cardiac arrest was launched today.
The 'Citizen CPR' campaign, which has been organised by the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council (PHECC), highlights how easy it is to perform compression-only CPR, rather than giving mouth-to-mouth.
More than 5,000 fatalities occur every year in Ireland as a result of sudden cardiac arrest with most over two-thirds of heart attacks taking place outside of hospitals. On average, 14 people will experience sudden cardiac arrest each day, of which only one will survive.
When an adult has a sudden cardiac arrest, their survival depends on them immediately receiving CPR from someone nearby. From the moment of collapse the chance of someone staying alive decreases by between 7 to 10 per cent per minute if CPR is not performed. However, according to research, most people are afraid of doing CPR due to a lack of knowledge and for fear they will cause further injury.
Launching the new campaign today, Dr Pixie McKenna, the Cork-born presenter of Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies programme, said everyone should know how to perform resuscitation.
"Sudden cardiac arrest does not respect age, class or creed and it strikes where it likes. Just like the lotto, it could be one of you and it could already have been one of you. This is why it is absolutely vital that every citizen is both competent and confident in CPR," she said.
As part of the campaign, a national roadshow is to take place at 40 locations across the country aimed at demonstrating three simple steps for people to take if they see someone collapse. These are to check if the person is unresponsive and not breathing, to get someone to call 999 and to start compressiongs by pushing hard and fast in the centre of the individuals chest until help arrives.
Teresa Fallon (63), from Roscommon told the Irish Times that she would not be alive if it wasn't for CPR.
Ms Fallon had a sudden cardiac arrest two years ago while in Galway for her daughter's hen party. She was saved when a member of staff at the hotel she was staying in performed CPR on her.
Speaking at the campaign launch in Dublin this morning, Ms Fallon said the fact that someone was able to respond when she collapsed made all the difference.
"Before I had the heart attack I would have been just like other people and would have hesitated about responding if I saw someone collapse. But now I see how simplit is and how important it is in buying time till the ambulance arrives," she said.
Daniel Ross (16) from West Cork who survived after his coach performed CPR on him after he collapsed with sudden cardiac arrest at a cross-country championship in 2008, was also supportive of the campaign.
“I used to think that CPR was complicated and that you'd have to do a course for it, but it's actually pretty easy to do when you follow the three steps suggested in the campaign and I think everyone should learn them so that more lives can be saved,” he said.
