7 Reasons Why Every Mama Should Be Learning CPR

Editor’s Post by Deborah Hetrick Catanese

CPR is a VERY important way you can make a difference in the event of a medical emergency in your home or in the world around you that you may have overlooked, so I’m here to tell you why every Mama should be learning CPR.

Mothers are by nature cautious.  After all, if we weren’t, can you imagine what all could go wrong? I am not encouraging paranoia or trying to make us unduly worried about the unfortunate fact that accidents or medical emergencies can and do happen in life.  But I also realize that when we do nothing but fret about something, it can feel like there is NOTHING we can do, which simply encourages inaction. The solution to being a worrywart for us Mamas is to take action by calmly running through some important scenarios in our heads and asking ourselves if we and our children are prepared.

• First aid kit?
• Regular visits to the Pediatrician?
• Insect repellant and sunscreen and seatbelts?
• Safety rules for active play, crossing streets, and dealing with strangers, online or in the real world?
• Bicycle safety and helmets?
• Swimming lessons and water safety?
• Firearms locked securely? All dangerous items tucked away and out of reach?
• Certification in CPR?

By taking some straightforward steps toward preventive medicine and safety, we Mamas can find some peace of mind about ways we can protect ourselves and the members of our family.

At the top of the list for ease of learning and potentially huge impact is learning CPR.   

My husband recently came home with a brochure about a free two hour certification class in CPR, and I readily agreed to attend with him.  While I was certified annually for my job a number of years ago, I knew that the American Heart Association had streamlined the guidelines in recent years to encourage more people to learn how to save lives, so I was eager to learn the latest techniques. CPR stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It is a lifesaving procedure performed when someone’s breathing or heartbeat has stopped. I will leave the easy to learn instructions and procedures to a professional. But I knew after attending the two hour session that I simply HAD to share the importance of possessing this skill for all our Mamas. During that class, I learned 7 important reasons why every Mama should be learning CPR:

7 Reasons Why We Should All Learn CPR

1. Stark Statistics. Only 32% of cardiac arrest victims get CPR from a bystander before rescue professionals arrive. We Mamas cannot take the chance of waiting helplessly while our loved one is suddenly not breathing, because many people die because it’s rare for an ambulance to them in the first critical minutes.
2. The effectiveness of CPR provided right after onset of a heart attack can increase the victim’s survival chances, doubling or tripling the survival rate. It is designed to be performed until trained EMT’s arrive and take over.
3. The Good Samaritan Law exists with slight variation in every state. Fear of liability for any misstep can paralyze even the most helpful good Samaritan, so these laws are intended to remove barriers from immediately beginning this proven life-saving procedure.  Obviously, in the case of a family member, you wouldn’t hesitate at all.
4. The life you save is very likely to be a loved one, since four out of five heart attacks or heart stoppages happen at home.
5. Causes. There are many things that cause even a healthy adult or child’s heartbeat and breathing to stop, which include: choking, drowning, electrical shock, excessive bleeding, head trauma or serious injury, poisoning, and suffocation.
6. The new guidelines emphasize chest compressions while skipping the mouth to mouth, or only providing a few breaths at less frequent intervals, which takes away a lot of the intimidation factor and makes it simpler for the person performing the task.
7. The main goal is to learn how keep the chest compressions going at the proper pressure and speed.  If you simply sing the song “Staying Alive” by the BeeGees in your head or out loud, you will have the fairly rapid rate of compressions correct, while motivating yourself at the same time. As for the pressure, the now digitalized training “dummies” will teach you how hard to compress the chest.  If you are worried about strength, don’t. By using one’s body’s weight, even a petite person can provide enough pressure.

An added bonus to learning CPR comes with additional training in machines called automated external defibrillators (AEDs) that can be found in many public places, and are known to increase the chances of survival. As we know, education rocks.  Just like Mamas do! So, get your Mama Self in gear and find your closest training session for learning CPR.  A precious life may depend on you, and we as Mamas are certainly equipped for that.

Yours in Parenting,

Deborah