Save a Life Through the New CPR

I had pretty much exhausted the video on demand section of Verizon during the recent heat wave and ended up watching an episode of the creepy antiques show Oddities. This is the show that features skulls, old time medical devices, and voodoo curse materials. This particular show highlighted a client who was searching for a death mask, and the topic of L'Inconnue de la Seine came up. She was a teenage suicide pulled from the Seine in the late 1880s whose striking Mona Lisa-like smile caused the Director of the Paris Morgue to have a death mask cast. Other death masks were apparently created from photographs of the corpse. I'll spare you the picture from Wikipedia; it is haunting. Having a bust of L'Inconnue became all the rage in Bohemian Paris just like having a skull in your study was common in Shakespeare's time. Her tragic beauty became an epitome of good looks for turn of the last century Europeans. Fast forward to 1958 to two guys who were looking to create a doll to teach CPR. Yes, the face of the original CPR doll Resusci Anne was cast in latex from an old death mask of the L'Connue. The unknown girl who died sad and lonely has become the most "kissed" face in history.

Yesterday CPR came to the fore again when I was having lunch with some friends. While I had been off exploring the Governor Ames Estate, they had had their round of golf delayed by emergency vehicles arriving on the course to take away a golfer who had collapsed. Did the guys in the gentleman's foursome know CPR? My friends couldn't say because the group left the course with their friend. 

So here's the point. Last night back at video on demand, I was watching a favorite comedy and a public service announcement came on about hands only CPR. It's been determined that the best thing you can do if a teenager or adult collapses is to first call 911 and then apply chest compressions at the rate of about 100 per minute. This, it turns out, is about the rhytyhm of the old disco tune "Stayin' Alive." Who knew-something good about cell phones and disco! No more stopping chest compressions to do mouth-to-mouth. Given modern EMT response times the chest compressions alone will keep blood circulating enough to prevent brain damage.

The compressions should be applied hard and in the center of the chest on the sternum. You can get the best pressure by putting the heel of one hand on the chest and then linking your other hand.  The American Heart Association has a quick, fun, and informative website on the topic where you can learn all you need to know in just a few minutes. Try the app that let's you practice your disco rhythm. Pass this along-we can save thousands of lives a year!