PH Red Cross eyes training 20,000 Pinoys in CPR

The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) on Wednesday said it plans to train 20,000 Filipinos in hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), a target that was announced as the country observes National CPR Day.

"We would like to reach 20,00 people from our different participating chapters all over the country. We have 102 chapters all over the country, plus our head office," Gwendolyn Pang, executive director of the Philippine Red Cross, said during a press conference.

Pang added that these trainings would be conducted in malls, schools, and workplaces, which cater to different sectors such as students, office workers, and tricycle drivers.

"As of today, we have trained 80,000 first aiders from January to June (2024), adding from our 500,000 already trained (first aiders) for the past five years," Pang said.

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has declared July 17 as National CPR Day to "instill and continuously promote health consciousness among Filipinos."

Today, only two out of 10 Filipinos know how to perform CPR, according to Department of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge Assistant Secretary Albert Domingo.

This is equivalent to a 23% CPR training rate, Domingo said, which the DOH hopes to improve.

"Importante na 'pag nag-shut down ang puso, dapat ginagawa na natin 'yung CPR. Bawat minute na hindi tayo nagbibigay ng compression, 10% ang nababawas sa buhay," Domingo said.

(It is important that when the heart shuts down, we can perform CPR. Every minute that we are unable to give compression, the patient's chances of survival are reduced by 10%.)

Confidence in performing CPR should also be established among Filipinos, said Jeremy Cordero, president of the Philippine College of Emergency Medicine.

"We have to establish lahat mag-CPR. 'Pag nakakita tayo kahit ng hindi natin kakilala sa daan, we have to have the confidence na kaya natin mag-bystander CPR," Cordero.

(We have to establish that everyone should know how to perform CPR. If we see some, even if we do not know them, on the streets, we have to have the confidence that we can perform bystander CPR.)

READ: How to perform CPR: Here's a step-by-step guide

According to the American Heart Association, bystander CPR is "performed by a person who is not responding as part of an organized emergency response system to a cardiac arrest."

In a Facebook post, the DOH said the public can save lives by learning the 4 Cs of hands-only CPR:

• Check if the victim is responsive
• Call for help
• Compress the chest at 100-120 beats per minute (think of popular dance songs) until help arrives
• Connect an automated external defibrillator (AED), if available

Medical institutions such as the Philippine Health Association also offer CPR training, which it may conduct in schools and malls. — VDV, GMA Integrated News