October is Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month

October is Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month

October is Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month and you have a chance to make a difference in the fight to save lives! It is the perfect time to help raise awareness for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and help the public become more familiar with what it is, how it affects people, and what can be done to help save lives. You have a chance today to move critical legislation requiring our Coaches to know CPR, please act today to make sure that our student athletes are safe from sudden cardiac arrest! 

More than 250,000 deaths occur each year as a result of SCA. In fact, SCA claims one life every two minutes. To decrease the death toll from SCA, it is important to understand what SCA is, what the symptoms and warning signs are, and how to respond and prevent SCA from occurring. More than 70 percent of Americans not only underestimate the seriousness of SCA, but also believe SCA is a type of heart attack.

Time-to-treatment is critical when considering the chance of survival for an SCA victim and teaching our students CPR we can make sure we are creating a generation of lifesavers! Some simple steps are below:
1.      Know the signs of SCA in order to react quickly.
2.      Call 911 as soon as possible
3.      Start Hands Only-CPR as quickly as possible.
4.      Use an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) if one is available on site