Barangay San Antonio (BSA) in Pasig City, in partnership with The Medical City, conducted a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training for its residents on Thursday, Feb. 23, to teach those with no medical background to be prepared and knowledgeable about heart emergencies.
BSA Chairman Raymond Lising said that around 50 non-medical practitioners attended the training which included housekeeping staff in BSA buildings, house helpers, security guards, and barangay tanods.
The training included Basic Life Support (Hands-Only CPR), free consultation for heart-related concerns, and lay forum on hypertension and lipids.
"This activity, the basic life support training, is very important for our residents. BSA has been an advocate of preparedness ever since, (especially) disaster preparedness. Being knowledgeable on basic CPR is one of those life-saving aspects that we need to equip our residents with," Lising said.
"We are really grateful for this collaboration with The Medical City. This health program will definitely be of great help," he added.
"When someone has a sudden cardiac arrest, his or her survival depends greatly on immediately getting CPR from a bystander. CPR must begin within four to six minutes and advanced life support measures must begin within eight minutes, to avoid brain death," it noted.
"They can immediately apply what they learned in the training should a heart emergency arises at work because we can never really expect when these emergencies will happen. Should someone suffer from cardiac arrest, our people are now well-equipped to be the first responders," Lising explained.
The Medical City's Cardiovascular Division head Dr. Adriel Guerrero stressed that the first responders can make a big difference in saving a patient's life.
"Should someone suffer from cardiac arrest here in the barangay, there's a bigger chance now for that person to survive because of CPR," Guerrero noted.
According to studies, the most common cause of cardiac arrest is an underlying heart problem like coronary artery disease that decreases the amount of oxygenated blood supplying the heart muscle. This, in turn, damages the structure of the muscle, which can alter its function. These changes can, over time, cause ventricular fibrillation (V-fib), which most commonly precedes cardiac arrest.
Less common causes include major blood loss, lack of oxygen, very low potassium, electrical injury, heart failure, inherited heart arrhythmias, and intense physical exercise. Cardiac arrest is diagnosed by the inability to find a pulse.
Sudden cardiac arrest, according to the Philippine Heart Association (PHA), is associated with low survival rate and major long term severe mental impairment due to delays in CPR and treatment.
The participants received a certificate on actual CPR training from The Medical City's experts.