by Cori Hilsgen
news@thenewsleaders.com
When someone is experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest or a heart attack, seconds and minutes matter.
Bystanders who can help a patient before emergency-rescue personnel are able to arrive on the scene help increase the patient’s survival rate.
The St. Joseph Fire Department offers annual cardiopulmonary resuscitation/automated external defibrillator heart-saver classes to help increase those survival rates for patients.
St. Joseph Fire Department member Brian Arms said they hold the training classes because it’s important for area residents to be prepared during the critical moments, before first-responders can arrive on the scene, when a patient experiences an emergency event.
Both Eric Single from Gold Cross Ambulance and Shirlie Brill, from the St. Joseph Fire Department said knowing cardiopulmonary resuscitation and how to use an automated external defibrillator until the fire department and other first-responders can arrive, increases the chances of survival.
Funding to pay for these classes, which are free to participants, usually comes from donations.
The fire department recently lost funding for its annual classes and discussed the situation with members of the St. Joseph Y2K Lions Club at its April 12 meeting.
After listening to St. Joseph Fire Department members John Prom and Dan Voigt explain how they needed funding for the classes, the St. Joseph Y2K Lions voted to help fund the classes.
Prom said the cost for the classes, which pays for the presenters, is about $1,200.
St. Joseph Lions Y2K member Derek Villnow from Russell Eyecare and Associates said he and his wife, Christie Russell-Villnow, wanted to donate $200, and the St. Joseph Y2K Lions voted to fund $1,000.
The classes were held April 17 and April 20 at the St. Joseph Community Fire Hall and were instructed by Bailey and assisted by Single, Arms and Brill. Each class was good for initial cardiopulmonary resuscitation or renewal. Only one class was needed for cardiopulmonary-resuscitation certification.
Paul Novak, St. Joseph, attended the April 20 training with his daughter, Genna, and son, Adam. Genna attends the University of Wisconsin-Stout and needs to stay certified for her college major of health wellness and fitness.
“It’s nice they offer (the class),” Paul said.
This was the first time Brenda and Kevin Schmidt, St. Joseph, were attending the class. Brenda’s dad died of a massive heart attack and Brenda’s mother at the time was not sure if she should call 911 or not. The couple has two children – Christopher, 9, and Cora, 5. Christopher has heart disease.
Some other class participants included Gary Ostendorf, Janet and Tim Thomes, Ken Schreiber and Joan Struzyk, all from St. Joseph; Caryn Locke, Sartell; and Josh Revermann, St. Wendel, who were all renewing the class.
Participants learned how to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation and use an automated external defibrillator on adults and children and how to help with choking incidents.
Baisley said class participants should not be afraid to use whatever skills they have learned and can remember.
“It’s better to provide (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) to someone who doesn’t need it than to not provide it to someone who needs it,” Baisley said. “It is better to act than to do nothing.”
Baisley, whose father experienced a cardiac arrest, shared a few American Heart Association statistics with the class:
• A 2014 release suggests more than 1,000 people suffer non-traumatic cardiac arrests outside hospitals – including about 26 children – each day in the United States. Overall survival rates are about 10 percent. For younger victims, the survival rate is about 5 percent.
• Survival to hospital discharge after emergency medical services treated non-traumatic cardiac arrests with any first recorded heart rhythm is 10.4 percent. Survival after a bystander-witnessed incident is 31.7 percent.
• According to the heart foundation, heart disease is the number-one cause of death in the United States, claiming more lives than all forms of cancer combined.
• Heart disease includes conditions such as coronary artery disease, heart attack, cardiac arrest, congestive heart failure and congenital heart diseases. A common cause of heart disease is coronary artery disease, a blocked or narrowed coronary artery that supplies the heart with blood.
• A heart attack occurs when blood supply to the heart muscle stops and the heart muscle dies. A sudden cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly stops pumping due to an electrical problem in the heart. A sudden cardiac arrest can occur at the same time as a heart attack. More heart attacks occur during morning hours.
• According to webMD, heart transplants are considered when patients have severe heart failure but are otherwise healthy. More than 2,000 heart transplants are performed each year in the United States. Thousands of patients die while waiting for a heart transplant before an organ becomes available.
Class participants learned most automated external defibrillators have instructions that are easy to follow and cardiopulmonary resuscitation has been simplified to 30 compressions/two breaths to make it easier to perform.
When an incident occurs, a hopeful chain of events for a patient usually includes the bystander(s) calling 911, starting cardiopulmonary resuscitation and using an automated external defibrillator until emergency responders can arrive and transport the patient to a hospital.
The St. Joseph Y2K Lions donates to a variety of causes and is always seeking new ways to serve people in need.
The group donates to various events, including Easter baskets for children with disabilities; the Tri-School Graduation Party for students of Apollo, Cathedral and Tech high schools; the Polar Plunge for Special Olympics; the Church of St. Joseph Parish Festival raffle; the St. Joseph Area Food Shelf; Diabetes Foundation; Hearing Foundation/Children’s Hearing Clinic; Lion’s International; Minnesota Lions Eye Bank/Children’s Eye Clinic; Leader Dog for the Blind; Camp Friendship; Can-Do Canines and more.
St. Joseph Y2K Lions fundraisers are annual and ongoing so its members can maintain money in the account to donate to area needs as they arise. Some fundraisers include monthly brat sales at the St. Joseph Meat Market, a pillow-cleaning and plant-sale event, working at an auto show, working for the St. John’s University Food Service department and more.
The Y2K Lions, founded in 2000, has more than 30 members. The group meets the second Wednesday of each month. For more information, email stjosephlionsy2k@gmail.com.
The St. Joseph area includes two Lions clubs: the St. Joseph Y2K Lions and the St. Joseph Lions. Both organizations provide service and benefits to the area.
St. Joseph Fire Department members Shirlie Brill (front left) and Brian Arms (front right) observe while class participants Caryn Locke, Gary Ostendorf, Kevin Schmidt and Brenda Schmidt (back, left to right) practice cardiopulmonary resuscitation on adults April 20 at the St. Joseph Community Fire Hall.
Gold Cross Ambulance instructor Mark Baisley (front) discusses automated external defibrillators while Josh Revermann (left) and Ken Schreiber listen.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation/automated external defibrillator class participants practice infant resuscitation April 20 at the St. Joseph Community Fire Hall while Gold Cross Ambulance employee Eric Single (right) and St. Joseph Fire Department member Brian Arms (far, back) observe.
St. Joseph Y2K Lions recently donated $1,000 to help pay for the cost of cardiopulmonary/ automated external defibrillator classes which were held at the St. Joseph Community Fire Hall. Pictured (left to right) are Mark Baisley, Gold Cross Ambulance; Eric Single, Gold Cross Ambulance; Brian Arms, St. Joseph Fire Department; Delrose Fischer, St. Joseph Y2K Lions; and Shirlie Brill, St. Joseph Fire Department.
