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National CPR & AED Awareness: Encouraging Others to Save Lives National CPR & AED Awareness: Encouraging to Save Lives

Each year, June 1-7 is National CPR and AED Awareness week to save lives.

By Tessa Howard

National CPR & AED Awareness week. Test dummies are often used in CPR training.
© 2022 Tessa Howard

MORGAN SCOTT: “NCC News Reporter Tessa Howard, tells us how some residents are bring CPR to the spotlight.”

TESSA HOWARD: “In one year alone 450,000 Americans die from cardiac arrest. 70 percent of cardiac arrests can happen in your own home… it’s rarely at the pools. I not only spoke with Syracuse EMS workers about CPR Awareness week but a woman who saved her own husband.”

HOWARD: “It was a regular day for Syracuse resident, Lisa Wiles. She worked, ran errands and was getting ready to join a Zoom call for her brother’s birthday. She remembers her husband, Dan in their living room watching TV until…”

LISA WILES: “Making terrible noises and I thought he was chocking but realized he wasn’t because he was gasping for breath.”

HOWARD: “Dan was having a sudden cardiac arrest. Lisa immediately called 9-1-1 and started to perform CPR. She only remembered the techniques from a prior CPR class 18 years ago.”

WILES: “You know they have fire drills and unfortunately now we have active shooter drills, what happens when someone goes down with a heart issue? Which is much more likely to happen.”

HOWARD: “Firefighters and EMS rushed to save Dan. He was down for 13 minutes and survived. But, Wiles took it in her own hands. She is now a CPR trainer. Up the street CPR trainer Chad Thompson says the survival chance decreases when CPR is not performed.”

CHAD THOMPSON: “It gives a better chance to the individual who needs it to survive there is obviously a major delay when that person goes down, when the time 911 is called, we are dispatched, whether it’s fire or EMS. There’s a lap there, there will always be a lap there.”

HOWARD: “And for you to get involved to save a life, Thompson says there is always classes.”

THOMPSON: “It will benefit the community as a whole, if you choose to learn CPR. You can save a classmate, save a family member or even a friend.

HOWARD: “Syracuse residents can sign up for the CPR classes this week online at Syracuse American Heart Association or Central and Northern New York Red Cross. For NCC News, I’m Tessa Howard.”

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Would you know what to do if someone’s heart stopped beating? What if that person went into sudden cardiac arrest? About 450,000 Americans, including New Yorkers, die from cardiac arrest. Only 70 percent of cardiac arrests happen right in a home.

Each year, June 1-7 is National CPR and AED Awareness Week. The goal is to spotlight how to save lives and to get others comfortable with CPR training.

A Central New York woman, Lisa Wiles saved her husband, Dan Wiles, in April of 2020. She first noticed Dan’s breathing and noises from the kitchen.

“He was making terrible noises and I thought he was chocking but realized he wasn’t because he was gasping for breath,” said Lisa Wiles.

Dan was having a sudden cardiac arrest. Wiles immediately called 911 and started to perform CPR. Luckily, Wiles knew what she was doing. She remembered the techniques from a prior CPR class 18 years ago.

“It suddenly came to me and I knew I had to save him somehow,” said Wiles.

 

Lisa and Dan Wiles, family photos.
Lisa and Dan Wiles, family photos.
© 2022 Tessa R. Howard

Firefighters and EMS rushed to save Dan. He was down for 13 minutes. EMS originally started with CPR but immediately used an AED. The AED indicated Dan’s heart did not have heartbeat rhythms and Dan has to be electrically shocked.

It was an overall difficult and traumatic experience for Wiles. Dan survived and took several months to recover. He is now being monitored for heart problems.

For Wiles, it still shocks her till this day that she almost lost her husband. Now, she has taken power into her own hands. Wiles is passionate about CPR and teaching others. She has held multiple CPR training sessions and spoken to groups at conferences in Syracuse.

“I just want people to know that it’s ok to do CPR in a scary experience,” said Wiles. “More people would be saved if a lot more people including companies would offer and know CPR training.”

In North Syracuse,  at North Area Volunteer Ambulance Corp (NAVAC), EMS and CPR Trainer, Chad Thompson says survival chances are decreased when CPR is not performed.

 

CPR & AED training classes attended and taught by Wiles.
CPR & AED training classes. Taught and attended classes by Wiles.
© 2022 Lisa Wiles

“It gives a better chance to the individual who needs it to survive,” said Thompson. “There will always be major delay from calling 9-11 to us arriving.”

For those who want to take classes, Thompson says it’s extremely easy. You can always visit your local YMCA, Red Cross or American Heart Association chapter.

“It will benefit the community as a whole, if you choose to learn CPR. You can save a classmate, save a family member or even a friend.”

For more additional ways to raise awareness during National CPR and AED Awareness week, with CPR training, visit: https://cpr.heart.org/en/

 

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