Hands-on care

First responders know that administering CPR effectively is one of the most important skills to help save the lives of those suffering from cardiac arrest. Last week, the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute of the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and the American Heart Association teamed up with the New York City Health Department to launch their second annual #HandsOnlyCPR camapaign as part of National CPR Awareness week.

The new initiative, which will spread the word throughout NYC’s five boroughs, includes a PSA called “It’s Sexy to Save a Life,” with the Tony award-winning cast of “Chicago.”

The Hands Only program focues on a three-step method introduced in 2008 to replace mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. “We want people to knonw it’s simple, they cannot hurt someone who will die without their help and there are Good Samaritan Laws in every state to protect someone who tries to save a life,” said cardiologist Dr. Holly S. Andersen, director of education and outreach at the Perelman Heart Institute and a clinical associate professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. The Hands Only technique, she said, “makes it easy to jump in and help someone in an emergency.”

The three steps of Hands Only are:

• CHECK for responsiveness and breathing

• CALL 9-1-1 or have someone call for you

• COMPRESS Start chest compessions. Kneel over victim. With straight arms and interlocked hands, push hard and fast in center of the chest, two compressions per second at least two inches deep.