A little over 5 years ago I joined Hatzolah Medical rescue as a
full-time responder. This decision was inspired after the death
of my beloved father. Those of you who have attended a CPR
class with me, have heard the story about the young boy who
saw his father lying unconscious and not breathing in his
garden. He proceeded to perform CPR until the paramedics
arrived and took over. After countless attempts by the
paramedics at CPR, the boy was told that his father had passed
away. For those of you who have not heard this story, this is my
story. The young boy, is me, Alon Crouse. And so, with this
sitting heavily on my heart, I later on, with the guidance of the
Hatzolah board members, founded the Hatzolah CPR training
centre and launched a project of community CPR awareness.
The reason for this is to educate the public about the
importance and difference made when the correct bystander
CPR is initiated. When one begins CPR on a person who is not
conscious and not breathing before the paramedics arrive,
survival rate is increased largely.
The Mission Statement of the Hatzolah CPR training centre is to
provide as many people possible with the basic skills of saving a
life. The heart is a pump and its main purpose is to push blood
around the body so that all the cells and tissues get sufficient
oxygen and nutrients. When cardiac arrest occurs, these basic
life sustaining objectives will lead to death. Performing CPR
(
Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation) by placing both hands in the
middle of the chest and pushing down hard and fast, the heart
gets compressed between the sternum and the spine. This skill
allows blood to be shunted around the body. Chest
compressions have been shown to achieve 25% of cardiac
output (the amount of blood pushed out of the heart in a
contraction). This may seem very little, however, the main
objective met by the chest compressions are the same as the
heart. CPR and more importantly, chest compressions, have
shown increasingly better neurological survival the earlier it is
performed. Every minute lost without CPR being executed,
decreases the patient’s survival rate by 10%.
This brings us back to the mission statement: In an ideal world,
death would not occur and in a second most ideal world, we
would have medical personell just seconds away. The CPR
training centre, together with Hatzolah’s response team was
built with the more realistic world in mind. Our main focus is
thus to train everyone possible to initiate and perform CPR in
those fewminutes before Hatzolah’s medical responders arrive
on the scene.
Before I knew it, CPR training consumed my world. I was out
training most evenings and Sundays, often twice on a Sunday.
The demand to enrol in a CPR course became remarkable.
Everyone just climbed on board, wanting to learn. The
importance of knowing how and when to perform CPR has
become so important in everyone’s lives, it is truly astonishing
to see.
We have since trained many people in the ability to perform
CPR. These people range between our community members,
domestic workers, police officers, doctors, other medical
practitioners, teachers, school children andmanymore.
As the call to learn how to perform CPR continued to grow, we
took the training centre to the next level. Today, we have 8
registered CPR training instructors, all of whom are Hatzolah
responders. We are also so privileged to have a beautiful
training centre at our headquarters which is equipped with all
of the necessary facilities, allowing us to provide the best
possible training to the community.
As part of their Chesed project, the Grade 6 learners at Yeshiva
College learn how to perform CPR. At the end of last year, I was
asked to give a talk at the school’s domestic workers’
appreciation day.
Someone who has given me a great amount of guidance,
support and strength once told me that what makes us unique
is that our team of trainers are a group of ‘Paramedics
instructing CPR’. This is so true, as CPR is so prevalent in our
lives, itmakes us thatmore passionate in educating everyone in
the significance of having the correct awareness and skill of
CPR.
CPR really does hand you the precise tools, giving you the gift of
helping to save a life.
Email
for information and bookings.
Be Prepared and Learn CPR
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