World First Aid Day, Cardiologists: “Training Young People Saves Lives”

Tomorrow is the World First Aid Day. In Italy, every year there are approximately 60 thousand cardiac arrests and it is estimated that in approximately 50% of cases the person assisting intervenes with the life-saving maneuver. Episodes where the time variable is decisive, but it is also necessary to know how to use defibrillators (AED or Semi-Automatic External Defibrillator) and be prepared for cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers. “The way forward is to introduce and train young people in first aid because sudden deaths occur in most cases within the home.. Today, technology helps us with defibrillators that cost as much as a cell phone and, given that in every family there are at least a couple per person, I believe that in those where there is a subject at risk it is right to have an AED and know how to use it. Maybe even to install it in the condominium. The more young people we train in first aid, the more lives we can save from sudden cardiac death”. Massimo Grimaldi, president-designate of the Anmco (National Association of Hospital Cardiologists) and director of Cardiology at the ‘F. Miulli’ general hospital in Acquaviva delle Fonti (Bari), explains this to Adnkronos Salute.

When it comes to sudden cardiac deaths, “there is a gray area – Grimaldi emphasizes – that is, next to those who already have an implanted automatic defibrillator, there are also those – precisely in a gray area – who not only have no indication, but are more at risk than the general population. P

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for this reason It is necessary to make defibrillators widespread, create a network of rescuers and put their location online, today there are Apps that do this“. The Anmco “has been carrying out awareness and information work on this issue for some time with the Foundation for your heart which interfaces with a lay public”, recalls the cardiologist.

“Increasing the training of young people in first aid would help in the fight against a dramatic event such as cardiac arrest which is often unpredictable, is not preceded by symptoms, and can strike young people even in good health and fully active in an unexpected way – he recalls – THE

to Prevention involves performing an ECG which however is no longer done by school medicine or during the military medical examination, today the ECG is done by those who play sports or have an enlightened general practitioner. While – he concludes – screening the entire population with a basic non-invasive cardiological exam could decisively reverse the trend”.