March Safety Message — Hands-Only CPR Matters

 

Most cardiac arrests happen at home or in public, not in hospitals, and brain damage can begin in 4–6 minutes without oxygen. Even the fastest EMS response usually takes longer than that. Early bystander CPR can double or triple a person’s chance of survival, but many people hesitate because they’re worried about doing it wrong — especially rescue breaths.

 

Hands-Only CPR removes those barriers. If someone collapses and isn’t breathing normally, all a bystander needs to do is call 911 and push hard and fast in the center of the chest at 100–120 compressions per minute — about the beat of “Stayin’ Alive” — until help arrives. You don’t need special equipment or perfect technique; immediate chest compressions keep blood flowing to the brain and heart, and doing something right away is far better than doing nothing.

 

In 2024, UFA responded to 252 non-traumatic cardiac arrest cases. Of these incidents, 52.8% received bystander CPR and 11.5% had an AED applied by a bystander. Nationally 41.9% of patients received bystander CPR and 29.2% of patients had an AED applied by a bystander. In 2024, 31 UFA patients left the hospital alive after receiving bystander CPR and AED use, this represents a 51.6% save rate which is significantly higher than the national average of 37.6%.

 

These numbers show the importance of UFA’s resuscitation training, crew practice, and responder professionalism and emphasize how important bystander CPR is for survival of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

 

Classes and resources are available on UFA’s website https://unifiedfireut.gov/classes/cpr-class/.