Texas Tech`s HSC to Attend Potentially Record-Breaking CPR Training

Feb. 02--Texas Tech's Health Sciences Center will participate in a statewide effort to break a Guinness World Record on Saturday.

Local chapter organizers of the Texas Two Step: How to Save a Life event said they hope to attract at least 1,500 locals to learn the basics of CPR.

The Texas College of Emergency Physicians, Texas Medical Association, a national nonprofit HealthCorps, MaveRx -- a leadership consulting firm -- and the American College of Emergency Physicians, in partnership with each Texas medical school including the HSC, hope to train more than 20,000 people statewide in free, hands-on CPR throughout the day.

The event is free.

Cheyenne Mangold, a second-year medical student and local chapter organizer, said the purpose of the event is to teach more people the importance of basic chest compressions as opposed to giving mouth-to-mouth breaths.

"The hands-on CPR has gone away from giving breaths just because of risks of transmitting disease and those types of things," she said. "The most important thing is to just keep the blood flowing."

After calling 911, maintaining blood flow through chest compressions is crucial during the wait for the arrival of first responders, said Ashley Yates, a second-year medical student and local chapter organizer.

"The most important thing is to keep your brain profuse with oxygen," Yates said. "That's the whole purpose of CPR. That's why you have to go so fast and so deep. It's to actually pump the blood. That's literally what you're doing -- pumping blood for them since their heart has stopped."

Yates said she and her fellow classmates are taught to push at least three inches deep to the beat of "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees.

If the process isn't physically exhausting, you're probably doing it wrong, Mangold said.

But CPR for an adult is different than performing CPR on a child, she said.

The differences and exact CPR process will be taught in greater detail Saturday.

Lisa Varghes, a second-year medical student and local chapter organizer, said no known CPR training movements of this magnitude have been done in Texas before, which was one reason the Texas College of Emergency Physicians chose to host the Texas Two Step event.

It coincided well with National Heart Month and bringing awareness to heart disease, which is the No. 1 killer in Texas, she said.

"We found out that four or five cardiac arrests take place in homes," Varghes said. "Equipping people could increase the chances or likelihood to save lives before 911 comes."

According to the CPR & First Aid Emergency Cardiovascular Care website, a cardiac arrest victim's survival rates can double or triple with bystander CPR but only about 32 percent of them actually receive it.

Varghes said that's why the statewide training is important.

Certified CPR instructors will teach 20-minute training sessions on both adult- and child-size dummies at each of the three training locations on Saturday, she said.

But the sessions should not be mistaken for actual CPR certification classes, she said. Instructors are just teaching the basics.

"It's something very easy," Varghes said. "It's not something you have to be a doctor or you have to be a trained professional to know. It's quick and it's easy."

ellysa.gonzalez@lubbockonline.com

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