NEENAH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Some people are thinking twice about stopping to give mouth to mouth,
“Everybody’s like oh no I don’t want to do it, you do it.”
Neenah-Menasha firefighter Jeff Ellis tells FOX 11 that shouldn’t scare people away from performing CPR.
“Getting on the chest and getting that pressure built up in their body is the most important thing you can do. You don’t necessarily have to do anything with respiration or mouth to mouth anymore but just getting pressure in that body helps quite a bit.”
Ellis says getting an ambulance on the way is essential when dealing with heart issues.
He says Neenah-Menasha’s response looks different today,
“We wear this extra protective gear before going into any situation.”
Tanya Rosenthal is a CPR instructor with the American Heart Association.
“Hopefully fears aside they’ll step up and realize what a helpful skill this is for people in our community.”
She tells FOX 11 they’re now teaching the technique in different ways.
“Yeah, we’re not doing any of the breathwork so mouth to mouth, we’re faking it, pretty much going through the motions.”
When it comes to CPR training right now the American Heart Association recommends that you don’t breathe into the mannequin but instead, breathe to the side.
Rosenthal says problems with mouth to mouth were prevalent before the pandemic too.
“The AHA has taught for a long time that if you are uncomfortable or unable to do the breathwork then you can do hands-only CPR that is strictly the compressions.”
Rosenthal and the fire department both stress the importance of learning and performing CPR, even during the pandemic.
The American Heart Association says there are CPR breathing barriers available if you ever run into a cardiac situation.
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