First responders stress importance of bystanders knowing CPR
A day after a 22-month-old boy’s life was saved by a neighbor who knew CPR, first responders are hoping the incident will reinforce the importance of everyone knowing the life-saving skill.

The boy was pulled from a West Palm Beach lake Wednesday morning and is currently in the hospital.

First responders said it was just another example of survival only because a bystander knew what to do.

“The reality is if someone doesn’t intervene, get on the chest, and start those compressions, we’re starting behind the eight ball,” said Casey Cline, community risk educator for Palm Beach Gardens Fire Rescue.

Cline also is one of the instructors at their monthly CPR classes.

Thursday afternoon, he taught WPBF News reporter Ari Hait how to perform CPR, starting with where to place your hands.

“Our landmarks are going to be straight across the nipple line, right on the center of the chest, really using that sternum to push against,” Cline said.

Cline said it’s important to position your body directly above the victim, lock your elbow, interlock your fingers and start pushing, providing 100 to 120 compressions a minute.

Cline said how hard you push depends on the size of the victim.

“If it’s a small child, I would maybe just use one hand,” he said. “The depth is always going to be about a third of the depth of the chest.”

Cline said the compressions do the job the patient’s heart currently isn’t doing: pumping oxygenated blood to the brain and keeping the patient alive.

And to underscore the importance of a bystander performing CPR, Cline pointed to some astonishing statistics.

Ninety percent of all cardiac arrests that occur outside a hospital result in the patient dying if they don’t get CPR.

The survivability of a cardiac arrest decreases by 10% every minute without CPR.

And since Palm Beach Gardens started keeping these statistics in 2016, 100% of cardiac arrest patients who recovered neurologically intact received CPR from a bystander.

“Before we get there, we need someone on the chest,” Cline said. “That is the common denominator in every one of those survival cases.”

Palm Beach Gardens Fire Rescue’s next CPR class is scheduled for Tuesday, April 16.