Daniel Otero 3531189352@qq.com CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation) is a concept born out of the desperation to save a person’s life, when emergency services are not immediately available. Once a call is placed into 120, it takes sometimes up to 40 minutes for an ambulance service to arrive. In that time, the person may have (on average) only six to eight minutes to live. That means, the first person responding is possibly a stranger, acquaintance, family member or friend. Most of the problems confronted when dealing with emergencies are within the area of heart attacks, and the critical time when chest needs to be compressed and oxygen needs to be delivered into the lungs. The problem right now in China is that less than 1 percent of adults know how to perform CPR. This is something that the Ministry of Education intends to change and wants to improve, as it announced Aug. 24 that it will permanently incorporate CPR into the educational curriculum. Teaching people such a skill is necessary. It is as easy as making an emergency call to help a person in need. That simple act can help save someone’s life and in the process, the person becomes a Good Samaritan. Remember, time is critical. (The emergency numbers are 119 for firefighters, 110 for police, 120 for an ambulance and 122 to report a traffic accident). By 1966, CPR was incorporated into education programs in the United States. Today, 65 percent of the population of the U.S. know how to or have had experience doing CPR and other simple emergency procedures in one form or another, whether it is chest compression or the Heimlich maneuver (to help expunge food that is stuck in the throat), or other procedures. To understand CPR a little better, first take a look at what it stands for. The “C” stands for Cardio (in other words, heart), “P” is Pulmonary (it applies to the lungs receiving air in a timely manner) and “R,” which is Resuscitation or literally the “Lazarus effect” to live again. Some people will state they are not a doctor, which is possibly true. But it is not only an educational skill. It is a survival skill that needs to be honed every year. For the most part, CPR courses are taken every six to 12 months, depending on the profession or specialty. Firefighters, police, paramedics, doctors and nurses have to be CPR qualified every year. This skill should be obligatory for maintenance workers, security guards, leaders in the community, teachers and teachers’ assistants. Other adults should also know how to perform CPR. The more people who have a grasp of the skill, the more heart attack victims that will be saved. This helps create a first line of defense against avoidable deaths. With one simple technique (CPR), this is possible. Wouldn’t you agree? (The author is originally from New York City working as a teacher at the Shenzhen Guangming Foreign Languages School.) | 