Essay by: ISP087
Imagine the love of your life lying on the floor, breathless, restless, with no pulse present. The anxiety and fear one will feel is beyond words can describe. About twenty years ago, my father had suffered a heart attack in Thailand. The event happened in the middle of the night while everyone was still asleep. My mom was the first to attend his needs, but she couldn’t do much, besides crying out loud. My whole family was awakened by the sounds of my mom’s cries. Yet, no one was able to do a thing due to our lack of knowledge. My family stood there helplessly as our father passed away right before our eyes. Although, I was young and did not understood what was going on at the time, I can feel the helplessness and pain as my mom felt at that time when she tells me the story today. My mom would always mention that everyone was hurt badly and wanted to help him in the best ways possible, but they had no clue of what to do in that situation. No one did a thing to bring him back to us; there were just cries and screams. Today, my thoughts still haunts me that if one of my family members knew how to perform CPR, would he still be here with the family? The thoughts of how different things would be if he had survived brought me the urge to educate others of how to perform CPR in case of emergency.
Before the paramedics arrive at any given place, there is time in between for a family member, friend, or any stranger to act. The use of this time is important and vital for the victim’s survival. Also, there are people who live in rural areas that do not have fast access to the paramedics; therefore, the time interval of when incident happened to when the victim gets to the hospital could be very long. Knowing the proper way to perform CPR is definitely one of the most significant actions that should be required for non health care professionals to know. This will play a huge role in saving a person’s life.
I strongly support that all citizens in the United States to learn how to perform CPR. As a member of The Student Nurses Association (SNA) at Stanislaus State, I have gone out to my community to teach children and young adults how to perform hands only CPR. I truly believe that this will prepare and educate children and young adults of what to do in case of an emergency. This will help prevent some families from going through what my family has gone through. Although, some victims may not survive, as long as the family knows they did all they could for their loved one to survive, it is better than not having the information available for them to do it.
Most non-health care professionals are always surrounded by people, and one of the best ways that they can help out a fellow citizen is to know how to perform CPR. CPR is one of most important things to do when someone is coding, it essential that non-health care professions stress the importance of it.
