Hey Mom and Dad, Do You Know Basic Life Support?

Accidental deaths, such as drowning and choking, are the number one cause of death in kids of every age.¹ This accidents often result in cardiac arrest—an event that is immediately life threatening without CPR. Every minute that a bystander does not provide CPR for cardiac arrest, the chance of that child surviving drops 10%. Brain damage starts in 4 minutes without CPR.

In children up to 13 years old, the most common cause of cardiac arrest are undiagnosed birth defects of the heart.² That means that kids can be walking around with a subtle heart defect and their parents don’t know about it until cardiac arrest strikes. Sudden cardiac death in the young is underappreciated—66 young athletes die of cardiac arrest each year.³

Cardiac arrest can happen quickly, which is why parents, teachers, and coaches should be prepared and willing to provide basic life support.

Two-thirds of cardiac arrests in young people are witnessed.² If bystander CPR is given, kids are over 3 times as likely to live. Unfortunately, bystanders help only one in three people, probably because 70% of US citizens don’t feel prepared to deliver CPR.

Learning Basic Life Support takes less time than you think. Chances are, if you save a child’s life with CPR, it will be your child!