Stop heart disease in its tracks

In a cardiac arrest, your heart stops and only CPR will save you — as it did one fit young man, says Graeme Lynch

THIS month we’re running our Big Heart Appeal, our annual doorknock fundraiser. It’s a big deal — doorknocking was what got the Heart Foundation started way back in 1959. We wouldn’t be here today were it not for the people who opened doors for us, literally.

Each year we try to highlight a different aspect of the myriad heart-related problems that can crop up.

This year it’s cardiac arrest and the need for greater awareness of what to do if someone near you experiences it.

Cardiac arrest isn’t the same as a heart attack.

Arrest means stop. Your heart literally stops beating because of an electrical malfunction, which deprives your body of the oxygen-rich blood you need to stay alive.

Cardiac arrest means you have only a few minutes to live. Unless someone administers CPR, you will die.

On the other hand, a heart attack is when blood flow to the heart is blocked, and part of the heart muscle begins to die. A heart attack can sometimes lead to an arrest, but not always.

Think of it like this: cardiac arrest is an electrical problem, while heart attack is a circulation problem.

The scary thing is that cardiac arrest doesn’t only happen to old unfit people.

I’m reminded of a young Hobart businessman I met recently, Will Priestley.

Will owns several popular cafes and restaurants in the city, plays premier league hockey, and is a third-dan black belt martial artist. By anyone’s measure he’s fit, active and probably the last person you’d expect to have a heart problem.

But a year or so ago, when Will was only 31, he collapsed during hockey training.

The next thing he knew he was in hospital, where he learned that he’d suffered a cardiac arrest on the field and keeled over.

Lucky for Will, there were a couple of off-duty medicos only metres away at the time and they began CPR, keeping him going until an ambulance arrived.

Had they not been there, in Will’s own words, “I’d have been toast”.

Will has since been a great supporter of the Heart Foundation, and recently spoke at a breakfast attended by Premier Will Hodgman and some Tasmanian business people as part of a Big Heart Appeal fundraiser.

Will’s story sparked quite a discussion about the need for people to be aware of the possibility that anyone can suffer a cardiac arrest.

Dr Paul MacIntyre, Director of Cardiology at the Royal Hobart Hospital, was at the breakfast too.

He acknowledged that Mr Priestley had indeed been lucky, because in far too many cases someone who witnesses a cardiac arrest event is unwilling to get involved.

Surveys have shown that lack of confidence in administering CPR was the biggest reason a bystander might not lend a hand.

I haven’t been trained, won’t I be doing more damage than good? is their first thought.

But consider this, about 95 per cent of cardiac arrest victims die before they reach hospital. They succumb before they get the help they need.

While you often see nurses and doctors on TV confidently taking control and expertly counting aloud as they administer chest compressions on some poor soul who’s keeled over, the reality is that any attempt at CPR or cardiac compression is better than none.

If someone’s heart has stopped, what have you got to lose? When you call 000 you’ll receive guidance from the operator, so please, don’t stand back and watch. That’s not to

say that training isn’t worthwhile. The more we can educate people on how to identify that someone has had a cardiac arrest, and what to do about it, the better. These days, with the advent of defibrillators, people who suffer a cardiac arrest have an even greater chance of making it to hospital alive.

Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) are easy to use and should be part of the office furniture.

The Heart Foundation would like to see an AED in every workplace, as well as in shopping centres and other public places. Twenty-three Australians die of cardiac arrest every day. Many of these deaths can be prevented.

Please, give generously when a Heart Foundation volunteer knocks on your door as part of our Big Heart Appeal this year.

You can also donate online at bigheartappeal.org.au.

It’s how we fund our work on preventing heart disease, Australia’s leading single cause of death for both men and women.

The reality is that any attempt at CPR or cardiac compression is better than none. If someone’s heart has stopped, what have you got to lose?