An off-duty New Westminster police officer is recognized as a hero for performing CPR. He performed the life-saving technique on a man who collapsed at a local hockey rink.
Getting CPR training
Const. Curtis Heath was at Planet Ice waiting for his own team’s game to start when he noticed a commotion on the ice. He figured that somebody was injured. He soon noticed that someone was performing CPR on a 27-year old player who had gone into cardiac arrest.
From what he saw, he believed that the man was dead for 3-4 minutes. It was at that point when the officer jumped into action. He realized that first aid was not being done the way it should have been, so he helped. CPR is something you get very tired quickly doing. He approached and told others that he was an off-duty police officer and had first aid training.
Heath stated that during his 8 years in the force, he never had the chance to use CPR but the training quickly returned. He performed chest compressions for the recommended 2 minutes before using an automated external defibrillator (AED) but the man still did not have a pulse after being shocked.
Heath continued with the chest compressions for another 2 minutes during which the man started to breathe and the AED detected a pulse.
Importance of the life-saving technique
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an important life-saving technique that can save lives. In case of emergencies, immediate delivery of the technique improves the chances of survival.
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LEARN MORE
Learn how to help by enrolling in a class on first aid and CPR and for more information, check out these sources: