In 2007 David Haight was waiting tables when he saw a man collapse. Through his Navy training, Haight was table to use CPR to save the man's life.
“Hey! Call 911. I have a man down," Haight recalls saying after the man fell. "I then lowered down to him and started doing rescue breathing and CPR and then when the EMTs got there, they took over. I was a Navy corpsman for 20 years, and you don’t forget things like that."
Fortunately the man survived. Craig Rause, the Disaster Program Manager of the Heart Of Texas chapter of the American Red Cross, said Haight's quick response certainly helped the man survive.
“By knowing how to administer CPR, you can actually save someone’s life before the first responders actually get there," Rause said.
The Centers For Disease Control said about 350,000 people suffer cardiac arrest outside of hospitals each year, and that 90 percent of those die. If CPR is given in the first few minutes after a sudden cardiac arrest, the victim's survival chances can double or even triple.
Rause stressed it's important to be certified in CPR before trying to perform it.
"A lot of people see it on TV. They think they know it. They may have taken it several years ago and they think they’ve retained that knowledge," Rause said. "Over time, if you don’t use it, it’s a perishable skill, so we absolutely recommend you go through and you get certified, and the certification is good for two years."
Haight suggests everyone get certified for more than personal reasons.
“It’s important to get trained so you can help save a life because what if someone in that store, that H-E-B store, knows CPR, intervenes and saves your mom. If you don’t know CPR and that was me, I would enroll right away in a class. I’d be like, 'hey—if they can do it, I can do it,'" Haight said.
The American Red Cross, the American Heart Association and the YMCA of Central Texas all offer regular CPR classes. You can search each organization's website for where and when a class will be held closest to your zip code, and how much cost is involved.
