CPR Bill

A bill in the State Legislature would ensure that 9-1-1 dispatchers are trained to coach callers on how to perform CPR over the phone. Krystal Webb is the communications director for the Wisconsin chapter of the American Heart Association. She notes in Wisconsin more than 6,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest each year outside a hospital and bystander CPR is administered in only about 19 percent of those cases. She says, “It is really important because if you collapse from cardiac arrest statistics show that your chance of survival it will drop 10 percent with every passing minute.” Webb tells us they are promoting the use of compression only CPR. She notes that even if you are trained to perform CPR it is important for the dispatcher on the other end of the line to talk you through it because practicing it and doing it for real are completely different. She says, “Which the dispatcher will be talking you through to help you focus because a lot of times obviously you’re probably in a panic, you’re stressed out and you need that calm direct voice on the other end of the line to tell you exactly what to do.” More than 60 volunteers lobbied lawmakers to support the Assembly bill this past week.