Photos by Star Sabroso
In the Philippines, as in other parts of the world, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death. According to the Department of Health, 170,000 Filipinos die annually from diseases of the heart. But what many don’t know is that half of these recorded deaths are due to sudden cardiac arrest or SCA.
“A lot of people don’t realize how many people die (each year) from cardiac arrest, and actually it’s over a million worldwide,” reveals educator and licensed paramedic Tim McGough. He adds that SCA kills more people than AIDS, breast cancer, colon cancer and prostate cancer combined.
“But we don’t hear about the deaths not until a celebrity dies,” McGough says.
True enough, following the sudden death of Filipino director Wenn Deramas on February 29, Google search for “cardiac arrest” surged on the same day.
Not only cardiac arrest cases are underreported, many often mistake SCA for heart attack or vice versa. But the two medical condition cannot be used interchangeably.
According to the American Heart Association, a heart attack occurs when a blocked artery prevents oxygen-rich blood from reaching a section of the heart. It’s basically considered a “plumbing problem.” Symptoms start slowly and persist for hours to weeks, before a heart attack happens.
Cardiac arrest, on the other hand, is triggered by an electrical malfunction in the heart that causes an irregular heartbeat or arrhythmia. When the pumping is disrupted, the heart cannot pump blood to the brain, lungs and other organs. It’s considered an “electrical problem,” and occurs suddenly and often without warning.
“It can happen to anyone – young, old, healthy, out of shape and even those who have no other medical condition,” says McGough.
Also, cardiac arrest can happen anywhere. In the Philippines and other Asean countries, McGough says the survival rate for cardiac arrests happening in public places is but a mere one percent. Survival rate in hospitals is a little better, albeit still low, at 17 percent.
“The reason it’s so low is because of all the challenges we face in giving good CPR (cardiac pulmonary resuscitation),” posits McGough. The resuscitation science expert is talking about the public’s lack of knowledge on how to do CPR when the situation calls for it.
Global data show that 53 percent of all out-of-hospital cardiac arrests are witnessed by a bystander. However, McGough says only 25 percent of the victims get CPR from a bystander before trained help arrives.
When it comes to cardiac arrest, immediate response is crucial. “As each minute goes by the patient loses as much as 10 percent chance of survival,” says McGough, hence highlighting the need for more people, specifically those without substantial medical training, to learn how to do CPR.
Not just CPR, but high quality CPR.
“We’ve found that the single most important factor in determining whether someone survives in the event of cardiac arrest is the quality of CPR given,” shares McGough.
Citing a recently published guideline, McGough states that a good CPR must have the right compression rate and depth. The ideal depth when pushing down the center of the victim’s chest is 2 to 2.4 inches.
But even as a licensed paramedic, McGough admits to having a difficult time “getting such a perfect depth.”
To help emergency responders achieve the right compression depth and rate, and in times when CPR must be given by a non-medical practitioner, it is important to get the AED or automatic external defibrillator to the patient’s side as fast as possible.
“Until recently, we didn’t have the way to measure the right compression depth until some guidelines came out in 2010 that talked about using a device to measure the chest compression quality,” recalls McGough.
As the director for international strategic marketing and sales of Zoll Medical Corporation, the world’s largest resuscitation company, McGough stresses the advantages of using AEDs.
“If you have a sensor under the chest you can measure the quality of compression and you can immediately improve it, and therefore immediately improve the outcome,” he explains.
Zoll, whose array of products are distributed by TAO Corp.’s Health Solutions here in the Philippines, has a wide range of defibrillators and AEDs, among others.
Zoll’s AED Plus, for instance, is the only AED that features a unique feedback tool that helps responders monitor CPR quality, and provides real-time feedback for depth and rate of chest compressions.
“You only get the right CPR with the help of right technology that will measure it,” asserts McGough.
Since SCA happens anytime and anywhere, he also stresses the need to require every establishment to have an AED, just like how all public places are required to have a fire extinguisher.
Visit www.zoll.com to know more about Zoll and its products.