‘Every Minute Counts:’ Ohio launches CPR campaign

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine recently signed a law requiring automatic external defibrillator (AED) devices to be placed in Ohio schools, part of the new "Every Minute Counts" campaign launched by Ohio Emergency Medical Services and the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

At a kickoff press conference in Columbus highlighted by Spectrum News, doctors and cardiac arrest survivors encouraged all Ohioans to learn CPR and for more organizations statewide to teach CPR skills and empower people to learn and use the technique.

The University of Cincinnati's Justin Benoit, MD, who also serves as the chairman of the Ohio Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES), said 30 Ohioans every day undergo a sudden cardiac arrest, but only 10% survive.

“It happens to both adults and kids, the sick and the healthy,” said Benoit, associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine in UC's College of Medicine and a UC Health physician.

Benoit said cardiac arrest is one of the most time sensitive and devastating acute disease processes in medicine, with a person’s chance of survival decreasing by 10% every minute.

“If witnesses do nothing, that means in 10 minutes, it’s over,” he said.

Bystanders should take action, even if it's not perfect, experts said.

Read or watch the Spectrum News story.

Learn more about the Every Minute Counts campaign.

Featured photo at top of a person practicing CPR on a dummy. Photo/microgen/iStock.