Well-attended CPR class was ‘heartwarming’

SHARON —The Sharon Fire Department and Ambulance Squad sponsored an American Heart Association (AHA)-approved Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) class at the firehouse on Oct. 2. About 36 people attended the class including untrained members of the community who wanted to learn CPR as well as some members of the ambulance squad who needed recertification.The class was lead by Sharon Ambulance Squad member Al Tortorella. The EMS Institute at Sharon Hospital provided equipment for the class, including practice dummies.Tortorella has been an EMT for more than 20 years and is a trained instructor.Dave Cadwell, director of the EMS Institute, explained the class was designed for both the general public and for health professionals. Individuals who completed the training would be certified by the AHA.“CPR is comprised of two elements: chest compressions and breathing,” Tortorella said. The purpose of chest compressions, he said, is to do the work of the heart, which may have stopped beating, and to keep blood flowing through the body. The instructor stressed that the main objective of that evening’s training was to teach the proper way to do chest compressions.“The American Heart Association used to say it was essential to do both chest compressions and breathing to save a person.”Now it is believed that the chest compressions are more important than the breathing, he said, especially when CPR is being administered by lay people. Trained emergency service volunteers and professionals are expected to know how to administer both compressions and breathing; lay people trained in just compressions are considered CPR-trained by the AHA.Videos shown in the class demonstrated the proper techniques for administering CPR.Chest compressions are done at a rate of at least 100 per minute, but never at more than 120. If breathing is done, two breaths are given after every 30 compressions.Due to the danger of communicable diseases, it was explained that mouth-to-mouth resuscitation is no longer done. Each class participant was given a plastic tube, to keep, to use when administering breathing. The tube has two ends; one is inserted in the caregiver’s mouth, the other into the patient’s mouth or into a mask, if available, that fits over the patient’s nose and mouth.Students were divided into groups of three. Each had the opportunity to practice both chest compressions and breathing.Participants were then shown how to use automated external defibrillators (AEDs). Tortorella explained that there are now a number of AEDs at central locations around town. When available, AEDs offer another way to restart a heart that has just stopped working. Cadwell said that “many more participants came than originally signed up. It was heartwarming to see people of all ages taking part in this training.”