Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation



“Script” for All Staff Awareness Class: (You will need the “Timeline of Urgency” DVD, and if you want, some candy bars or other prizes—to give out whenever someone answers one of the questions highlighted in red, or asks a great question.)

I’m going to show you a short video clip about something that could happen at ________________ES tomorrow. Please pay attention. There will be a short quiz (and prizes) after this.

Then show video, cued up so it starts with basketball game. This should take 6 minutes.

OK, what happened to this player could happen here. Who could it happen to? (to any student, staff member, parent or other visitor). It’s called Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Who remembers how often this happens? (~350,000 Americans each year, and ~1,000 children and adolescents). That’s 1,000 people/ day and as many as 3-4 students/day. In Georgia schools, in the last 4 years, at least 24 people have died from probable sudden cardiac arrest, including 14 ES, MS and HS students and at least 10 adults.

This sudden cardiac arrest is different than a heart attack. A heart attack is a plumbing problem, where the “pipes” get clogged up, usually because of things we do or don’t do---things like eat foods high in fat, don’t exercise, don’t have our BP checked. Who can tell me what the person having a heart attack will usually say? (chest pain, back pain—esp. in women, arm, neck or jaw pain, indigestion). The good thing is, this person can usually talk to you and tell you how they are feeling, and you have a little time to respond.

The sudden cardiac arrest is different. It’s an electrical problem—something interrupts the normal flow of electricity through the heart that causes it to beat and pump our blood around our body 60-80 times every minute that we’re alive. Once the electrical flow stops, the heart stops, or just begins to quiver, and is no longer able to pump. Blood flow to the brain and other vital organs stops immediately. So the person having an SCA, either just goes down suddenly like our young man in the video, or if they have time to complain of anything, it will likely be head symptoms (“I feel woozy, dizzy, vision blurry, think I’d better sit down…”) not heart symptoms. And the next thing you see, they’ll be on the ground, unresponsive. They also might have a little jerking movement that makes you think of a seizure and may have gasping respirations before they stop breathing completely. It is possible for older folks to have a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest at the same time---probably what happened to Tim Russert the ABC newsman last year.

The key to saving this life in this school (or at home, the airport, grocery store, health club, Turner stadium, etc.) is a plan, early recognition, a way to communicate, first responders and an AED. You have everything you need here. Who remembers how long you have to respond? (3-5 minutes) Remember blood flow to the brain has stopped. Can we just wait for EMS? NO. Do you have time to ask lots of questions? NO. The real reason we’re doing this class here today is because any of you could be the witness. Because time is so short, we need for every witness to know how to act immediately. How do you know it’s a sudden cardiac arrest? You don’t, but when someone goes unresponsive suddenly, that’s a sudden cardiac arrest until proven otherwise. All you need to do is:

1) Notify the front office right away (How? intercom button, cell phone, send a runner). They will call the first responders to the scene, call 911, and send someone to the front of the school to direct EMS.

2) After the school’s responders arrive, you may be called on to retrieve the AED, remove kids from the scene, do crowd control, go for other needed items.

3) Where is/are the AED(s)? (It’s _____________) Do you know who your first responders are? (provide this information) These folks have been trained in CPR and use of the AED.

4) You’ve seen in the video how the AED works. It will never hurt someone who doesn’t need it, because it will first read their EKG, and will only shock someone if they need to be shocked.

5) The AED will tell you, “no shock advised” if they don’t, then you have time to ask the other questions that are in your mind, and figure out what else might be wrong with your victim.

The good news in Georgia is that since Dec 2007, there have been eight saves in GA schools, 5 students and 3 adults are alive today because the school was prepared and had practiced this response.

There is one other important thing. When this happens to children, we think many of them have already had early warning signs that may have gone unrecognized and unreported. Can anyone remember what one of the younger players in the video said when our victim went down? (He fainted last week when we were playing ball…) That’s the biggest red flag that tells us there may be something wrong than needs to be evaluated—fainting during exercise) Can anyone remember what the other early warning signs were? (shortness of breath, fatigue, or chest pain--all during exercise) We think those are important things for everyone who works with children to know. It does not have to happen with exercise or activity, but in children, most often it does—and when it does, it needs to be reported to school nurse or parents right away, so the child can be evaluated by his pediatrician, and possibly by a pediatric cardiologist. In children most of the conditions that can cause sudden cardiac arrest are genetic. So one other red flag to know, even in your own family, is whenever there has been an unexpected and unexplained death before age 50, even a drowning or single car auto accident, there is a possibility that a sudden cardiac arrest happened, and that others in the family may be at risk of having the same condition.

Are there any questions?

Thanks so much for your attention today. We know you work here to educate kids, not to do medical emergency response. But in this case, because time is so critical, it is important for everyone to know a little about sudden cardiac arrest and how to respond. Remember, if someone goes unresponsive suddenly, that’s a sudden cardiac arrest, until proven otherwise.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download