Emergency health complications are part and puzzle of our day to day lives. However, while attending to some health emergencies such as accident casualties, cuts and fractures is a bit easy, heart attacks pose a great challenge to those present at the scene when someone suffers a heart attack.
In most cases, calling an ambulance is considered to be the only option by many people, but in the real sense, a minute spent attending to a heart attack victim may be worthier than trying to rush the victim to the nearest health center.
What is a heart attack?
As a matter of fact, no one can attend to an emergency health complication without contemplating the danger that such a complication poses to the victim, and thus, a proper understanding of heart attacks (or what is also referred to as cardiac arrests) is always essential.
Usually, a heart attack occurs as a result of limited supply of oxygen in the cardiac tissue. This may be caused by presence of plaque in the coronary artery as a result of an internal clot or accumulation of cholesterol in the cardiac arteries.
When such a complication occurs, it may take only a few minutes before a section of the heart tissue dies, predisposing the victim to potentially fatal complications such as heart failure or stroke.
Some of the signs and symptoms that are indicative of a heart attack include:
-Undue fatigue
-Cardiac palpitations
-Chest pain accompanied by a feeling of uncomfortable pressure and squeezing
-Shortness of breath often occurring before the onset of chest pain and discomfort
-Nausea, a feeling of light-headedness and sudden dizziness
-Cold sweating
How to Attend to a Heart Attack Victim
In most cases, the outlined signs and symptoms occur some minutes before the complication imparts more serious effects on the victim such as loss of consciousness.
Outlined below are some of the steps that you should take to get the cardiac arrest under control depending on the state of the victim:
Administer Aspirin
Despite the fact that aspirins are globally used as non-steroidal pain-relievers, they are also effective anti-clotting agents. Once administered, they help dissolve the clot in the coronary arteries which eventually eases heart attacks.
Perform CPR if the victim is unconscious
Some cardiac arrests advance very rapidly eventually rendering the victim unconscious. A major indicator of heart-attack-induced unconsciousness is breathing while in an unconscious state.
At such a time, performing a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) should be the very first step so as to restore pulse and sustain breathing. It is also recommended that even when the victim falls unconscious and loses his or her breath as well, the condition should be treated as a cardiac arrest and thus one should initiate a CPR immediately.
An effective CPR should be done by pressing the sternum with the heel of the hand 3-5 cm downwards, having interlocked the fingers from both hands while doing a mouth-mouth or mouth-nose breathing.
Ideally, one should perform 30 compressions and then administer 2 deep breaths through the mouth or nose. However, the compression be done vertically and the force should not be applied from the shoulders.
In the meantime, one should ensure that Emergency Service had been activated to ensure that the victim will be rushed to a healthcare center in the shortest time possible.
Alert Friends and Family During the Attack
If you are the one suffering the heart attack, you can alert up to 5 of your closest acquaintances with your GPS location, as well as update your Facebook status, so that your closest friend know you are experiencing an emergency and can send help as soon as possible.
One free application that allows you to send an alert from your mobile phone is Guardian Angel One. It comes in handy in medical emergencies such as strokes, heart attacks, epileptic attacks, pregnancy related issues.
