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SAVING LIVES WITH CPR HAS NEVER BEEN EASIER

Media Release from the Australian Resuscitation Council

Thursday, March 2, 2006 -- Brendan Ward

In a move aimed at increasing survival rates from cardiac arrest the Australian Resuscitation Council is making new recommendations on how CPR is performed.

"The radical shift in this life saving technique is based on international evidence that more frequent chest compressions may result in an increased chance of survival" said Associate Professor Ian Jacobs the National Chair of the Australian Resuscitation Council.

"CPR will now be performed with a ratio of 30 compressions to 2 ventilations" said Associate Professor Jacobs. "The new guidelines will be much simpler to teach and easier to remember"

The Australian Resuscitation Council (ARC) will be releasing its updated guidelines for resuscitation on Friday the third of March. The ARC is Australia's peak resuscitation body and these changes are the result of extensive international collaboration between resuscitation Council's around the world and are based on best the evidence.

"By making the resuscitation easier to remember and teach more people will be comfortable to attempt resuscitation. Currently less than half the cardiac arrest victims get resuscitation from bystanders. If we can increase the number of people who are prepared to give resuscitation we will save lives" said Associate Professor Jacobs.

It is important to recognise that the previous recommendations for resuscitation resulted in many lives saved and should continue to be used until update training has occurred. The new Guidelines should be easier to remember and more effective. These changes can only be made as we advance our knowledge of the resuscitation science.

The new recommendations will cover Basic Life Support and the more advanced adult, paediatric and neonatal life support.

All first aid teaching organisations will be following the new guidelines shortly

"The most important piece of advice is to call for help (000) and do some CPR (even if you are not exactly certain of the ratios)"

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Resuscitation Rules to Change

National Nine News - by Sheryl Taylor

Thursday, December 22, 2005 -- Brendan Ward

The rules for saving someones life are about to change.

An international committee has agreed to the biggest reforms in the guidelines on CPR for 20 years. The aim is to make CPR easier to remember so people will be more willing to use it.

Most heart attacks happen in the home or at work and bystanders are typically inexperienced in CPR, or lack confidence in the training they have received which prevents them trying CPR.

"Its an unfortunate stark reality that less than 50 percent of people who have a cardiac arrest get any CPR or any resuscitation prior to an ambulance arriving," says Ian Jacobs from the Australian Resuscitation Council.

A three year international evaluation of resuscitation techniques has found people get confused trying to remember the different methods recommended for adult and child victims. The guidelines have now simplified to a single formula for all victims - 30 chest compressions followed by two rescue breaths.

The review also found a longer period of chest compressions keeps blood flowing to the heart, improving survival chances.

The biggest changes are for children. Previously it was thought because most children collapsed from respiratory conditions such as asthma or drowning, that more ventilations were needed.

"Now were saying do 30 to two for everyone. So the message really for everyone is if you come across someone whos collapsed in the street or home and needs CPR, then having one set of numbers to remember, 30/2 makes it simple," Jacobs says.

The Resuscitation Council still needs to finalise the CPR changes with key medical groups such as The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and nurses associations. However, the changes are certain to be introduced and taught from February next year.

Coping in an emergency

Tuesday, August 14 2002, 16:22 -- Deidre Stark

In the Press The Courier Mail, 7th July 2001.

WAITING alone at a Sydney train station one day as a teenager years ago, Kevin Barnes felt helpless as a woman in front of him suddenly collapsed unconscious on the edge of the platform. With trains speeding past just inches from my head I was trying to help her but I had no idea what to do, he said. Eventually an ambulance came. They took her away and I was just left standing there realising how powerless I was to help.

The incident led to Mr Barnes becoming an ambulance officer in Sydney where each day for the past five years he has assisted members of the public hurt in accidents or suffering from medical emergencies.

A year ago, he took his quest one step further by starting his own nationally recognised and accredited business, The First Aid Training Company, to teach people how to cope in these situations.

Ansett, Westfield, Byvan, Unilever, Hungry Jacks and the Baptist Community Service have since sent staff to Mr Barnes for training.

Every single day of my career as an ambulance officer I have been called to situations where people are suffering cardiac arrest or have been in car accidents or had burns or a million other things that can go wrong.

With almost every call, particularly with children, quite often I would go to help and there would be at least one adult just standing there in a panic.

If they knew what to do, if they had had training for CPR or first aid, they could have often made a difference to the outcome.

He said when someone stopped breathing there were only three to four minutes before irreparable brain damage began occuring.

Often the ambulance takes longer than that to arrive. I know in Sydney CBD it takes an average of nine minutes, so that makes it clear to me the importance of training.

Interest has already been strong enough to prompt Mr Barnes and wife Susan into franchising the business. A one-off fee of $25,000 covers full training, ongoing support, a web site, booking system and client base. We have already signed up our first franchisee, Mr Barnes said. We are going to begin looking for the right people in Queensland and the rest of Australia shortly. People already working in health care and looking to start their own business are ideal.

A full course, which is certified in the same way as the well-known St Johns Ambulance first aid training, costs $125, with a discount for group bookings. While he has spent the past 12 months concentrating on establishing the business, Mr Barnes is projecting total turnover of almost $1 million this financial year. We are aiming to be the biggest private provider of first aid training in Australia and then we will have a good look at New Zealand, he said.

He has been approaching primary schools and day care centres, encouraging parents and teachers to learn CPR and first aid. I saw figures recently that in Canada one in three adults know CPR and first aid and they have one of the worlds lowest sudden death rates, whereas in Australia, at least in N.S.W, only one in 980 people are trained. That is a pretty huge market just waiting for our courses.

As well as the traditional two day face-to-face course, The First Aid Training Company has introduced a mostly Internet based course that people can complete at their own pace, or on their own time. This reduces the actual hands-on portion of the training down to five hours, saving businesses valuable staff time, or allowing individuals the opportunity to learn first aid without taking two days off work.

Learn via the Internet how to save lives

Tuesday, August 14 2001, 14:44 -- Cydonee Mardon

In The Press Illawarra Mercury, 14th June 2001

These days you can do just about anything on the Internet, even learn how to save lives. An Albion Park couple has developed Australias first computer first aid training course.

Kevin Barnes, a former ambulance officer and his wife Susan said the revolutionary service enabled businesses to provide quality first aid training through distance learning on the Internet.

My background is in lecturing with the ambulance service and I saw a real need for first aid training, so we designed our own course, Mr Barnes, 31 said yesterday.

Susan has an honours degree in psychology so we have a background in this kind of work.

Mr Barnes said The First Aid Training Company provided a variety of specialist first aid training refresher courses and supplied materials and kits suitable for government, industry and the public.

All courses are WorkCover approved. While the need for practical supervision is not eliminated, the typical two full day or 16 hours face-to-face training by qualified and experienced insrtuctors can now be delivered in five hours.

Its easy and practical and allows greater flexibility for people to learn and study according to their own needs, Mr Barnes said.

There is a growing awareness and increased need for more experienced people to be available at work sites and administer timely first aid in the event of workplace accidents or illness.

Mr Barnes said he decided to work in the health and safety industry when he was in his late teens. He wandered across a woman who had collapsed at a Sydney train station. I remember feeling helpless not knowing how to help this poor lady, he said. Now I enjoy making a posative contribution to society and the enormous satisfaction that comes with teaching others how to save lives.

Danger Time for Asthma

Tuesday, April 3 2001, 10:50 -- Belinda Weber

In The Press Macarthur Advertiser, 11th October 2000

A combination of early summer blazes and pollen can greatly affect asthma sufferers ability to breathe. With the recent bushfires and the coming hot season, Kevin Barnes of The First Aid Training Company, is urging asthma sufferers not to downplay the serious life threatening side of the disease. Australia has the highest incidence of asthma in the world with 10 percent of adults and 20 percent of children suffering the condition at some stage of their lives. Mr Barnes, said many people die each year from the reversible airways disease. He is reminding sufferers the importance of carrying medication, usually a puffer, with them at all times.

Sufferers should always have their puffers with them because they do not know when they are going to have an attack, he said. Somtimes, it could be the difference between life and death.

At times, a simple puff of medication is not enough and these people are now facing a serious life threatening condition. With severe asthma, the sufferer might not have the associated wheeze, and may become very quiet. Usually, talking is out of the question because it is hard enough to breathe.

The patient may turn a bluish colour in the face and their level of consciousness may fall.

Your actions now will decide the outcome.

Mr Barnes recommends an immediate call to triple 0 and a request for an ambulance. The patient should be sat upright, reassured help is on the way and assisted in the use of medications whether it be a pump or nebuliser, he said. Should the patient stop breathing, expired air resuscitation should be commenced immediately.

The importance of staying calm, ringing triple 0 and giving reassurance cannot be emphasised enough, Mr Barnes said.

A rule of thumb is that if the patient does not respond immediately to their medication, get help immediately. More information on helping asthma sufferers and saving lives can be acquired by doing a first aid course.

RSL staff learn CPR techniques.

Monday, January 1 2001, 15:24 -- Kevin Barnes

In The Press Macarthur Advertiser - 7th August 2000

Employees from Ingleburn RSL Club now know how to apply emergency first aid techniques. They attended a course last week covering motor vehicle accidents, heart attacks, bleeding and resuscitation. It focused on the initial care of an injured person.

Kevin Barnes from The First Aid Training Company said the longer a person is left not breathing, the greater the chance of brain damage. Only three or four minutes of not breathing can result in brain damage. In the Sydney Metropolitan area it takes an average of eight minutes for an ambulance to arrive so first aid is very important.

The main thing people need in an emergency is common sense, Mr Barnes said.

RSL Club supervisor Christine Franklin said the course dispelled a few myths. Now I wont be helpless in an emergency situation, Ms Franklin said. I always felt that I should do the course and this was the perfect opportunity, she said.

People with little children should know the skills. Mr Barnes said that after completing the course, the group should expect to be more confident. One life in about six is saved through bystander CPR before the ambulance arrives. Prompt action can save a life, he said.