The Power (is) in Your Hands
by Teri Theuriet | April 16, 2019
Raise your hand if you’ve got aging parents or grandparents. Kids? Siblings? Aunties and uncles? Yup. We’ve all got ’em. Now how would you feel if one of them collapsed at the grocery store, playground or office and NOBODY was able or willing to do CPR? I’d be angry. (Just like I am whenever I see drivers who won’t get out of the way of an ambulance. But… I digress.)
I was both angry and shocked to learn that here in Hawaii, there is only about a 12 percent chance that a bystander will perform CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) or use an automated external defibrillator (AED) on a stranger. Only 12 percent, can you believe that?! Even though, according to the American Heart Association, doing CPR and using an AED before paramedics arrive, can double or even triple a person’s chance of survival after sudden cardiac arrest. Even though hands-only CPR is now what’s recommended, not mouth-to-mouth, which used to make lots of people — myself included — reluctant.
Hawaii also has a Good Samaritan law, which protects any person who provides emergency care in good faith. (AED use was added to that law just last year.) So I’ve been trying to think of possible reasons for the low percentage. Is it because our culture is to not butt in if it’s not our kuleana? That doesn’t really make sense, since we hear countless stories about locals helping people all the time.
Is it that there aren’t enough people trained to do CPR or use AEDs? Maybe that’s why earlier this year, a bill was introduced in the state legislature that proposes CPR training as a prerequisite for high school graduation. (Read more about S.B. 1388 if you’re interested.) There are local classes available publicly, and though they’re not free, they’re not super expensive either: ranging from $65 — $95 for a 2-year certification.
I’m fortunate because Hawaiian Electric requires all employees to complete CPR and AED training and the companies provide on-site instruction. Maui Electric and Hawaii Electric Light do the same for their operational employees. Because we’re emergency responders, it just makes sense. And it doesn’t stop there.
Just on Oahu, more than a hundred of our trucks are equipped with AEDs (Hawaiian Electric was the first electric utility in the nation to put AEDs on line trucks). Also, the publicly-accessible defibrillators we have at our Honolulu facilities are listed in the free PulsePoint AED app, which shows you where there’s an AED nearby should you ever need one.
So not only do I know how to use an AED, I should be able to find one if, god forbid, I ever need to put my training to use.
That 12 percent figure keeps bugging me. But at least I know that there are more than 2,000 of us across Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Hawaii Island who are trained in CPR and AED use. I’m counting on them to step up if needed, as they’re counting on me to do the same.
I’ve heard the saying: Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. So, would it be fair to say that having the knowledge and training on CPR and AEDs but not being willing to use it is like a firefighter not being willing or able to use a fire extinguisher? OK, maybe not exactly. But you get the point.
Teri Theuriet is a corporate communications manager at Hawaiian Electric Company.
