Neilo wrote:I am not a medic, but have been First aid trained and trained to use a defib. This is what I have learned.
The best chances of surviving a heart attack are early CPR, early Defib, early clot busting drugs and early to hospital.
CPR will not restart someones heart (except in Hollywood). It will give you time to get a defib. A defib will only work if it senses the right conditions, namely that the heart is fibrilating, The electrical impulses in the heart go all screwy and the heart muscle is twitching, rather than beating. The defib defibrulates the heart, meaning that it sends an electric shock to stop the heart twitching, then it can beat properly again.
If the heart is stopped and it is not fibrilating, the machine will not do anything, the person is dead.
Whether to carry one is another matter, I guess you would have to weigh up the probabilities of it happening.
A ride with a fit and health group, with no known medical problems, probably not. A ride with the heart attack survivors cycling club, probably.
Neil
Holywood CPR is great though - Take a 3 week decayed corpse, 3 chest compressions and they'll spit out a mouthful of seawater (despite this being in the middle of the desert) and run a marathon...