General

What Is A "Good Samaritan Law?"

The Chain of Survival is a four-step process for providing treatment to victims of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) developed by the American Heart Association (AHA) in 1990 after several decades of research into SCA. It was designed in recognition of the fact that most episodes of SCA occur outside of a hospital, with death occurring within minutes of onset without treatment. Quick execution of each and every link is critical because the chances of survival decrease 7 to 10% with each passing minute.

As the critical first step in initiating the cardiac chain of survival the person calling 911 must provide the dispatcher the information she needs to send EMS to the scene as quickly as possible.

In 2006, the American Heart Association (AHA), in order to improve a victim's chances of recovery and to simplify teaching of CPR skills, updated their CPR guidelines.

Even though AEDs are designed to be easy-to-use and relatively foolproof, individuals who intend to use one should receive training in order to understand the role of defibrillation in the broader context of the cardiac chain of survival. A rescuer trained in CPR and the use of AEDs will be better able to implement all four steps in the cardiac chain of survival, significantly increasing the victim's chance of survival.

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is an electrical malfunction of the heart which causes the heart to beat in an abnormal, chaotic rhythm called ventricular fibrillation (VF). The heart then loses its ability to effectively pump blood.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest and a heart attack have different symptoms, causes, and treatment.

There are ten things a community should know to prevent sudden cardiac death, which kills an estimated 350,000 people in the United States each year, more than all forms of cancer.