Why Would You Take CPR?

Guest Blog by Scott Drochelman

Roger "Rabbit" Collins' head dropped to his chest. He began convulsing. Ray Harris, Jr. dropped to a knee, he listened for breathing. There was none. The man's eyes stared up blankly. He was clinically dead. Ray began pumping his chest for what felt like an hour. In the end, it was only 8 minutes before Roger gasped and the firefighter was beside him telling him he would take over.

Photo: NASA/GSFC/Rebecca Roth

Ray had learned CPR only a month before. A simple training and 8 minutes of determination had saved his coworker's life. CPR trainings are commonplace in the United States with 12 million people being trained annually. Millions do this training even with the knowledge that on 2% to 18% of people who receive bystander CPR survive to be discharged. Those statistics don't matter in the end because we've decided that the small chance of saving someone like Roger is worth the time and money necessary to learn CPR. We've determined that we will do what it takes to save a life.

Whey then are so few people trained in suicide prevention? Why have we decided that our discomfort in talking about suicide is so great that we would rather leave it to someone else to help? What if Ray Harris Jr. had waited for someone else?

We know that suicide prevention programs work. Studies suggest that up to 42% of people who take a suicide prevention gatekeeper training use the skills they learn in the first 6 months. The trainings are short, on average only 1-2 hours and the expectations are the same as CPR. They don't ask that you do it all by yourself, they just ask that you help until the professionals arrive. We know all this, and still only a small percentage of the population gets trained. How many Rogers could we save if we would invest a small amount of time and money in learning how to save a life? How many more do we have to lose before people are willing to step up?

Visit www.carsonjspencer.org/programs/working-minds/ to find out how you can help.

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Sources:
http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/local/story/2015/nov/26/msaves-co-workers-life-cpr/409279/
http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/10/health/cpr-lifesaving-stats/
http://cpr.heart.org/AHAECC/CPRAndCPRFirstAid/CPRFactsAndStats/UMC_475748_CPR-Facts-and-Stats.jsp
http://www.nbci.nim.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2913886