SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Every year, more than 350,000 people go into cardiac arrest outside of a hospital in the U.S. That means their heart stops beating. Only about 40% of them get CPR from a bystander.
KATHERINE Y BROWN: A cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at any time, and just doing CPR, you can double and triple survival rates, and this is what we need. We need lives to be saved.
DETROW: That is Katherine Y. Brown, the founder of Learn CPR America. Life Kit host Marielle Segarra spoke with Brown and took a CPR class.
MARIELLE SEGARRA, BYLINE: The first step to CPR - if you see someone unresponsive, make sure it's safe to approach, like there are no cars coming, nothing's on fire. Next, let's say the person is lying on the floor. You're gonna kneel next to them and tap as hard as you can on their shoulders. Here's Katherine Y. Brown again.
BROWN: You're going to say, hey, are you OK? You're looking for any signs of life. Do you see that chest rising or falling? Do you feel any airflow? If you don't see any signs of life at all, quickly call 911.
SEGARRA: If you're the only person around, put 911 on speakerphone while you start CPR. But if there are other bystanders, tell one of them to make the call.
BROWN: I like to say, you in the orange shirt or the red shirt or if you know the person by name. Just make sure that they know it's them and that you see and acknowledge that they actually call for help.
SEGARRA: Now it's time to start chest compressions. Kneel at the person's side, put one hand over the other and press with the heel of your hand in the center of their chest.
BROWN: Interlock those fingers if you're able. Your arms straight, elbows locked, push straight down as hard as you can, and we do it to 120 beats a minute. Two familiar songs - the cadence kind of helps you push, push, push - you know, stayin' alive, stayin' alive. (Singing) Ay, macarena.
SEGARRA: The simple act of you doing chest compressions will give this person a better chance of surviving until help comes. There is another component to CPR, rescue breaths. You've probably seen this in the movies. You don't need to do them. Research shows that with adults, hands-only CPR is almost as effective as CPR with the breaths. But if you do want to attempt them, you're going to do 30 chest compressions followed by two breaths.
BROWN: Place one hand on the person's forehead, pull the head back, two fingers under the chin. Press your mouth over theirs, give a breath just until you see the chest rise, next breath, and then you're going to go back to chest compressions.
SEGARRA: So this is CPR for adults. It's a little different for kids and babies. The American Red Cross does recommend rescue breaths for them. And for babies, you'll want to wrap your hands around their torso and do chest compressions with your thumbs in the center of the chest.
BROWN: Many people refer to that as a two-thumbs encircling hand technique.
SEGARRA: You can find a diagram of this technique online. Also AED machines can save lives. Those will analyze a person's heart rhythm and deliver a shock if necessary. You simply turn them on, put the pads on the person's chest and follow the voice prompts.
BROWN: You can find them in schools, public places, airports, sometimes shopping centers and casinos, of all places.
SEGARRA: The last thing I'll say here - I know some folks might be afraid to try CPR because they don't want to do it wrong.
BROWN: Sometimes, when I'm teaching and people say, I don't want to hurt the person, and I say, their heart has stopped.
SEGARRA: So she says even if you haven't had formal training, if you're in this situation, make an attempt but also consider taking a CPR class. For NPR News, I'm Marielle Segarra. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.