IT WAS A BLAST! Thank you for coming along to the CPR Information day and Community Celebration!
- ERD
- Oct 27
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 27
On Saturday the 18th of October East Ryde Doctors hosted a community CPR event. Anyone was welcome to come along and learn vital lifesaving skills, and gain confidence in responding to emergencies. It was amazing to see so many members of the Ryde community come together to learn, ask questions, and support one another.
The staff supported the consulting GPs at East Ryde Doctors, and together worked diligently to organise and deliver this community CPR event. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the planning process and is eager to host more events like this in the future.
There was a presentation, a series of prepared skits and speeches for the community, designed to provide both an engaging and educational experience for everyone in attendance. After this, it was your turn! - the community was able to break off into groups with a doctor to ask questions and have a go at CPR themselves.
After the presentations, everyone gathered for a community celebration featuring live music by Joe Coco, local Sager Place businesses were open, engaging activities for children, and informative pamphlets and resources available for attendees to take home.
DANGERS Check for danger - this means looking for possible danger which may’ve caused the cardiac arrest, or danger of the surroundings. Do not put yourself in danger to perform CPR.
RESPONSIVENESS Check for response - say the person’s name and hold onto their shoulder
SEND Send for help - call 000 - it is essential not to understate the importance of calling for help - calling 000 will mean ambulance can come to help - and bring an AED. You can also shout out ‘help me’ - in case a passerby is able to assist you.
AIRWAY Open the airway - the reason for this is to make sure that the person is not choking
BREATHING Check breathing
CPR - more information below
Defibrillation – While we did not go into detail on the day about defibrillation, it is an essential step in restarting the heart’s normal rhythm during cardiac arrest. Using an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) as soon as possible greatly increases the person’s chance of survival.
What is CPR?
CPR is a combination of chest compressions - plus or minus rescue breaths.
Because the heart has stopped - the mechanical action of CPR helps to keep blood and oxygen circulating to the brain of a person whose heart has stopped beating.
CPR Start CPR (give 30 chest compressions (followed by two breaths - only if feeling confident to do so)
Rate of chest compressions is 100-120 per minute
Compression should be done in the centre of the chest, over the lower half of the sternum (breast-bone), compressing to a depth of 5cm or one third of the body.
You may have learnt before with CPR to also give two breaths as well as compressions - however recommendations now have changed to not giving breaths, unless you are trained to do so, as it is considered that compressions are the most important and give the best chance of saving someone’s life.
Your heart is a big strong muscle, which is vital to sustain life. It contracts regularly and pumps blood with oxygen and nutrients to all parts of your body and to your organs, like your brain, muscles, lungs, liver, stomach, kidneys. This is what allows you to function - move your bodies, talk, breathe, eat, sleep.
You can feel your heart beating when you put your hand over your chest and you can feel your heart beat/pulse at different parts of your body, like your wrist and neck, even behind your knee.
What is a cardiac arrest?
A cardiac arrest is when a person’s heart stops beating. It can happen suddenly and without warning. This stops the heart from pumping blood around the body, which means that the body can’t function.
If this happens a person will be unresponsive and not breathing, or not breathing normally.
A cardiac arrest can be caused by many things - including heart disease, trauma - such as a car accident, drowning, choking, electrocution and severe allergic reactions.
FEEDBACK: If you wish to provide feedback about the event, please do so via the CONTACT form (found on the front page)
PROMO CODE:
ST JOHNS NSW has kindly provided a promotional code for CPR and First Aid courses.
Promo Code: EASTRYDE10%
Discount: 10% off all Provide First Aid and CPR courses listed (except the 100% online courses as they are run via St John VIC).
Active: For any bookings made from October 18th to November 18th
(the training does not have to be in this window).
To use, participants simply apply the code at the shopping cart and make the booking.
For Provide First Aid training, participants can go here: https://stjohnnsw.com.au/provide-first-aid-1-dayFor CPR training, participants can go here:
East Ryde Doctors extends sincere thanks to Dr. Elizabeth Foster (an Independent Medical Practitioner consulting at East Ryde Doctors) for her valuable contribution and professional insights throughout this article.
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