Rebekah Tucker, of Houston, and Emily Rogers, of Chicago, (not pictured) used CPR to help save Jorge Pedroso over the weekend after the man was pulled from Lake Michigan. (E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune)
Jorge Pedroso was lucky.
Not just because there happened to be two people who had taken a cardiopulmonary resuscitation course on hand when he was pulled unconscious from Lake Michigan, but because they remembered what they'd been taught.
Rebekah Tucker, a massage therapist from Houston, just got her CPR certification Aug. 3.
Emily Rogers, a Chicago actress, learned infant CPR two years ago for a job as a nanny.
Together, they saved Pedroso's life.
If you've gone through CPR training — for a job, maybe, or just in case — then good for you. But how long has it been? In a life-or-death situation, could you apply what you learned?
Studies have shown that bystanders who perform CPR on a victim of cardiac arrest get it right less than half the time.
Nearly 80 percent of those who participated in a 2011 University of Pennsylvania study said they weren't confident they could perform CPR if needed, even though nearly 90 percent of them had received training. Almost half had been taught within the preceding five years, and 42 percent had learned more than five years ago. Three out of four weren't aware of new guidelines that call for "hands-only" CPR, without mouth-to-mouth breaths, in most cases.
An earlier study found that fewer than one in three witnesses to a cardiac arrest attempt to do CPR. What do the rest of us do? Freak out, dial 911 ... or just gawk. On Sunday, as Tucker and Rogers worked frantically to save Pedroso, one bystander stood back and shot video.
Even when CPR is done correctly, the odds of survival outside a hospital are low: about 5 percent if it's administered by a layperson or 9 percent if by a health professional. Without CPR, though, only about 2 percent survive. It matters.
So if you don't know CPR, take a class. And if you think you know CPR, think again. Look at the person nearest you and ask yourself if you'd know what to do if he or she went into cardiac arrest right this minute. Might it be time for a refresher? An advanced course? A pediatric CPR class? The American Red Cross of Greater Chicago, Rush University Medical Center and other providers list multiple offerings.
You needn't be a big bruiser to save a life: The Aug. 1 Tribune reported on a CPR video prepared by first-year medical students at Northwestern University. It's for middle-schoolers, and available online. This fall, NU med students will volunteer to visit Chicago-area schools to answer questions after kids view the video.
While we're at it: Does your workplace have an automated external defibrillator? Do you know where it is and how to use it?
Is there a fire extinguisher in your kitchen? Has it been recharged lately, or ever? Will it work if you need it? Or is it a dusty relic under the sink?
Not to nudge too much but: When was the last time you changed batteries in your smoke detectors? You do have smoke detectors you've tested recently, don't you?
Maybe you'll never use your CPR skills or your fire extinguisher. But it's worth the effort to keep them up to date for that emergency you hope will never come. Being prepared means staying prepared. Any of us could encounter a Jorge Pedroso — someone who very much needs our help.