The COVID-19 pandemic stopped daily life in its tracks. However, even though many medical offices were closed to most in-person visits and every other routine was turned on its head, cardiovascular disease—and its devastating consequences—never paused. Statistics published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) show that in 2020, twice as many people died from heart disease as from COVID-19 in the U.S.
One of the most important tools available in the fight against the negative outcomes of cardiovascular disease is cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR. When performed properly by a certified person, CPR can help a cardiac arrest victim survive an otherwise fatal event.
Read on to learn how a physician-certified online CPR certification course can help you safely learn lifesaving skills, even during a pandemic.
Online CPR Certification Can Give You Priceless Tools, Safely
The fundamental principle of CPR is that when a person’s heart stops beating, the heartbeat can temporarily be substituted with chest compressions. By pressing on a person’s chest, you can not only help continue to push blood throughout the body, but you can also help the body exchange air and oxygenate blood in their lungs. This is crucial because, as a report in BBC News highlights, irreversible brain damage can occur within minutes of a heart’s not beating.
Fortunately, from the comfort of your own home and on your own timeline, you can learn the lifesaving practice of CPR by taking an online CPR certification course. At the American Academy, our online courses have the following benefits:
- They are fast and informative, taking between 20 and 30 minutes to complete.
- They are free.
- They can be taken remotely, from any location, without the risk of viral exposure.
- They provide specific and updated information about how to provide lifesaving care to someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 illness.
Our online courses provide high-quality written and illustrated content, as well as videos to help you master techniques. They are designed to harness the power of remote learning, which, as noted by CNBC, is a booming educational sector. At the American Academy, our online courses are also reviewed by board-certified physicians, so you can rest assured that you are receiving the highest quality of education, even outside the walls of a traditional classroom.
The Impact of CPR Education During a Pandemic
Effective CPR has always been a critically important public health tool. However, during the pandemic, increasing the public’s awareness of CPR and lifesaving skills has taken on even more significance. Within communities stricken by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, emergency medical services may be severely strained. Business Insider reports that surges during the pandemic have caused increased waiting times for ambulances across the country—in some places, by as much as 200 percent. Being able to perform lifesaving CPR while waiting for an ambulance may make all the difference in whether a cardiac arrest victim survives the event. In fact, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that when CPR is performed within minutes of a cardiac arrest, it can double or triple a person’s chances of survival.
CPR Can Keep Your Loved Ones Safe at Home
Many people who have fallen ill during the pandemic have been hesitant to go to an emergency department or another area of the hospital because of fears of overcrowding or exposure to the virus. However, delaying medical care can lead to even more significant problems and increase the likelihood that a person may suffer a cardiac event at home. In the age of stay-at-home orders and generally scaled-back interactions with the world, you may be more likely to perform CPR on someone you know than on a stranger, which means that learning CPR can help you keep your loved ones safe.
Learning CPR During a Pandemic
You may have previously been under the impression that you cannot learn lifesaving skills during the pandemic because of social distancing and in-person learning restrictions. However, the opposite is true. Now more than ever is the ideal time to learn CPR and critical lifesaving skills—all from the comfort of home.
