Woodlands Park Community First Responders

What is the Chain of Survival all about? It is certainly about Early Access, Early CPR, Early Defibrillation and Early ACLS. It is also about a series of critical interventions, coordinated roles and responsibilities. But what the Chain of Survival is truly about is survival itself.

To understand the Chain of Survival the following text gives an idea of what the chain involves.

The first link in the Chain of Survival is the 999 Emergency call.

When Cardiac Arrest strikes, an immediate 999 call is crucial; a delay of just a few minutes could prove fatal. By quickly recognizing a medical emergency, a bystander can help save a life.

Cardiac Arrest is not the same as a Heart Attack. However, a victim of either condition requires an immediate 999 call.

A prompt 999 call sets the Chain of Survival in motion, giving the next two links, Early CPR and Early Defibrillation, the greatest opportunity for success.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is the second link in the Chain of Survival; it is the link that can buy life-saving time between the first link (Early Access to Emergency Care) and the third link (Early Defibrillation).

During Cardiac Arrest, the heart twitches irregularly most often due to ventricular fibrillation (VF) and cannot pump oxygenated blood efficiently to the brain, lungs, and other organs. The victim quickly stops breathing and loses consciousness.

However, prompt CPR can help sustain life during VF. The mouth-to-mouth breathing and chest compressions help oxygenated blood flow to the person's brain and heart, until defibrillation can attempt to restore normal heart pumping.

Your Part in the Early CPR Link - Once a Cardiac Arrest victim collapses and a bystander calls 999, the next step in the Chain is to perform CPR if you are trained, or to find someone who is. Lay people initiate CPR in more than half of CA (Cardiac Arrest) cases in which someone has witnessed the incident.

Although CPR can sustain life for a short time, it must be followed within minutes by the third link, early defibrillation. Only when combined with early defibrillation and early advanced care can CPR significantly increase an SCA (Sudden Cardiac Arrest) victim's chance for long-term survival.

Although it is an important link in the Chain of Survival, CPR alone cannot fully resuscitate a person in CA. Early defibrillation is the third and perhaps most significant link. Most CA victims are in ventricular fibrillation (VF), an electrical malfunction of the heart that causes the heart to twitch irregularly. Defibrillation, the delivery of an electrical shock to the heart muscle, can restore normal heart function if it occurs within minutes of CA onset.

When CPR and defibrillation are provided within eight minutes of an episode, a person's chance of survival increases to 20%. When these steps are provided within four minutes and a Paramedic arrives within eight minutes, the likelihood of survival increases to over 40%.

Now you can see why Community Responders have an important role within the community. Community Responders do carry a AED (Automated external Defibrillator).

The fourth link in the Chain of Survival is Advanced Life Support. Paramedics and other highly trained Emergency personnel provide this care, which can include basic life support, defibrillation, administration of cardiac drugs, and the insertion of endotracheal breathing tubes. This type of advanced care can help the heart in VF respond to defibrillation and maintain a normal rhythm after successful defibrillation.

The trained emergency personnel monitor the patient closely on the way to the hospital, where more definitive diagnostic evaluation can occur.