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The rules of how to treat cardiac arrest are being re-written at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Technology, new drug treatments, conventional CPR and the use of hypothermia are now being coordinated with great affect - in one case reviving a man who'd been clinically dead for more than an hour. (Video and transcript available at link)

The rules of how to treat cardiac arrest are being re-written at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Technology, new drug treatments, conventional CPR and the use of hypothermia are now being coordinated with great affect - in one case reviving a man who'd been clinically dead for more than an hour. (Video Transcript) Rodney Whitmore is exercising in the physical therapy wing at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. It's part of his recovery regimen. Two months ago in his farm house, Rodney went into cardiac arrest. His heart stopped pumping blood and supplying oxygen to his body. Statistically, Rodney's...

Chalk up Tennessee Republican Rep. Phil Roe’s Tuesday morning actions to heroism: Roe saved a man’s life with CPR after he flatlined in the Charlotte, North Carolina airport. Roe, an obstetrician before he first ran for public office, was walking through the Charlotte terminal with South Carolina Republican Rep. Mick Mulvaney at about 7:15 a.m. when someone yelled out, “Is anybody here a doctor? There’s a gentleman who just collapsed!” Mulvaney told The Daily Caller that Roe rushed to the mans’ side and began CPR immediately. “He literally had just collapsed and Phil ran over there and I believe there...

The radio ad sounds unsettling, warning of the dangers of signing political petitions. “California doesn’t license or bond signature gatherers. Many of them are from out of state and move from city to city to carry petitions. Anyone can do it, even convicted felons and forgers,” says the ad. “The legislature even called it an identity theft starter kit.” The tagline says the ad is funded by Californians Against Identity Theft, with no further information. The Watchdog set out to determine who was behind the ad. The domain for the group’s website is registered to the same address and phone...

Firefighters union accused of intimidation tacticsUpdated: Jun 28, 2011 1:04 PM EDT Public employee unions in San Diego are accused of using intimidation tactics to slow down signature drives to put a pension reform measure on the ballot next year. The firefighters union has the most to lose if the voters approve pension reform because new hires will lose the lucrative benefits that current firefighters enjoy. They, and others, have taken their cause to the streets. The unions are tracking down the locations of the signature gatherers, and their job is to keep as many people from signing as possible....

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- By all counts, the 54-year-old man who collapsed on a recent winter night in rural Minnesota would likely have died. He'd suffered a heart attack, and even though he was given continuous CPR and a series of shocks with a defibrillator, the man was without a pulse for 96 minutes. But this particular instance of cardiac arrest (http://www.mayoclinic.org/heart-attack/), reported first in Mayo Clinic Proceedings (http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com) online, turned out to be highly unusual: "The patient made a complete recovery following prolonged pulselessness," says anesthesiologist and cardiac care specialist Roger White, M.D. (http://www.mayoclinic.org/bio/10114106.html), lead author of the article. Emergency...

I'll soon be launching a survey of all my readers and other gun owner-Americans around the nation. Readers of my Newsletter will receive the Survey this week and others need to give their permission if they would care to take the survey by opting in to the Newsletter. Years ago, I formulated an identity of purpose between the armed citizen and citizen CPR training. I don't know how many gun owners know CPR as part of their preparedness plan, so I thought I'd ask. While I'm at it, I'll be asking a few other questions as germane to the second...

The House just voted 236-181 to remove federal funding for National Public Radio via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

A Florida man shot at an alligator to free his dog from its jaws. Tom Martino said he and his Jack Russell terrier Lizabeth were walking along the Hillsborough River in Tampa when the alligator wrestled the 15-pound dog into the water. Martino started shooting into the water around the alligator to scare it into releasing the 9-year-old dog. He performed CPR on the dog until it coughed up water and started breathing again. Lizabeth was being treated for alligator bites and lung injuries from being underwater. A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission trapper captured the 5- to 6-foot...

(CNN) -- It was 5:16 a.m. when the call came in to a 911 dispatcher in Madison, Wisconsin. The story, from Cathy Silver, came out staccato: Cathy's husband, Jim, was gagging, gasping for air. A nurse at the University of Wisconsin Hospital, Cathy could see that her husband, the father of four grown children, was in cardiac arrest. Though trained in CPR, Cathy was flustered. "I can't do the breaths!" she shouted. Nevermind, said the dispatcher. Get over him, press on his the chest, circulate the blood. Help would be there soon. Four minutes later, a Madison police officer arrived...

DALLAS — New guidelines out Monday switch up the steps for CPR, telling rescuers to start with hard, fast chest presses before giving mouth-to-mouth. The change puts "the simplest step first" for traditional CPR, said Dr. Michael Sayre, co-author of the guidelines issued by the American Heart Association. In recent years, CPR guidance has been revised to put more emphasis on chest pushes for sudden cardiac arrest. In 2008, the heart group said untrained bystanders or those unwilling to do rescue breaths could do hands-only CPR until paramedics arrive or a defibrillator is used to restore a normal heart beat.

Here is a video report on a man who collapsed during President Obama’s speech at a High School Graduation in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The older man apparently went into cardiac arrest as the President was speaking. Michigan State Senator Tom George was in the audience and said the man “was not breathing and he was pulse-less” when he got to him. George and others initiated CPR until paramedics were able to take the man to the hospital. He is reportedly “responding to treatment.”

I thought this was worth passing around. The only question I had was, I think they said no need to check for pulse. I have an issue with that one, what if they just passed out? Other than that this is good and everyone should see it. Link to Mayo's new CPR method

This is an excellent video regarding an updated and more effective version of CPR that doesn't require blowing in someone's mouth. Pass it on.

LA CENTER, Wash. - A newborn piglet cheats death, thanks to a quick-thinking farmer and a nurturing dog in Washington State. Meet Pig Pig, a young female piglet who would rather run with the dogs than play with her own species. "She just doesn't even have any interest," said farmer Heidi Olson. After all she was raised by a red heeler after her own mom died after giving birth. "The only problem is now the pig thinks she's a dog," said Olson. Heidi Olson says Pig Pig's amazing story almost ended just two days after she was born. As the...

Man Survives 47 Minutes in Cardiac Arrest Doctors Wouldn't Give Up on N.Y. Man, Delivering 4,500 Chest Compressions and 8 Defibrillator Shocks to Save Him (WCBS)  What happens if your heart stops beating? Is it possible to survive? CBS station WCBS in New York recently met a Brooklyn man who lived after his heart quit for 47 minutes, and it's all thanks to a team of doctors who refused to give up until they brought him back from the dead. "These doctors did not stop," Joe Tiralosi said, fighting through tears to find the words to describe his experience....

There's no doubt about the love we have for our dogs and cats. But, when push comes to shove, just how far would you go if your best friend was in a health crisis? Let's get to the point. Your pet is injured and needs lifesaving air.Question is, could you bring yourself to put your mouth to his snout? 58-percent of people surveyed by the Associated Press and Petside.com would be at least SOMEWHAT likely to perform CPR on their animal in a medical emergency. The survey showed women were more likely to deliver those rescue breaths than the men....

Here is video of CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta showing actor Matthew McConaughey what he calls a "new way" of doing CPR. Gupta says new studies show that doing chest compressions only on a cardiac arrest patient is just as effective - if not better - than if mouth-to-mouth is also done. Gupta said you have "8-10 minutes of oxygenated blood" in your body anyway, and the key is to keep that blood moving. So, according to Gupta, it is better to not interrupt the chest compressions for anything while you wait for paramedics to arrive. He also said more people...

Sonia Sotomayor was one of three appeals court judges who ruled that New Haven, Conn. officials acted properly in throwing out firefighters' exams because of racially skewed results. The city decided not to use test scores to determine promotions b/c it might have been vulnerable to claims the exam had a "disparate impact" on minorities in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Sotomayor's opinion has been criticized as a cursory look at a tough issue. Among critics are Soto's fellow judges on NY's 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals.... outcome could alter how public and private sector employers make...

When EMTs arrived at Michael Jackson's home yesterday, the medics wanted to pronounce him dead on the scene -- but Michael's personal doctor refused to let them "call it" -- this according to sources close to the situation. When EMTs arrived there was evidence someone had been performing CPR on Michael for "quite some time." There was evidence of Lidocaine -- an old-school drug that can be used to treat disturbances in the heart's rhythm. Medics took over performing CPR but determined Jackson was lifeless -- and wanted to call the coroner to pick up the body. We're told Jackson...

Free Health Care Shortages by: Deidre Almstead, June 16, 2009 Katie Brickell’s new life as a twenty-five-year old newly-wed was all but completely halted when she discovered she had cervical cancer, with only a few years left to live. Her hope for survival was placed in receiving cancer treatments through the United Kingdom’s government-run health care system. Katie claims that her cancer could have been prevented or at least identified at an earlier stage had she been allowed a pap-smear, a common screening test for cervical cancer. Now all Katie can do is to continue to fight for the health...

BOSTON (AP) ― Beacon Hill lawmakers are weighing bills to beef up CPR-requirements at schools and require heart tests for student athletes. The Committee on Education will hold a public hearing at the State House on Tuesday to look at more than a dozen proposals, including a bill that would require all students to be taught cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Another bill would require coaches to have a CPR certificate and know how to use heart defibrillators. A third would force students who want to participate in interscholastic athletic programs to undergo an electrocardiogram first.

While politicians debate whether this week's rejection of various spending initiatives in California marks the beginning of an antitax insurgency, I can't help but wonder what might have been had Arnold Schwarzenegger immediately pushed for reform upon taking office in 2003. The Arnold of the state's recall election was the Barack Obama of the 2008 presidential election. He was a man of wealth and privilege, restyled as a populist outsider and overhyped by a fawning media, who came into office with a window of opportunity to achieve most anything his heart desired. For Mr. Schwarzenegger, that window remained open for...

Boone County - A toddler survived life-threatening moments because adults jumped into action with just seconds to spare. It happened at a rural home west of I-65, near County Road 550 South in Boone County. The scene went from quiet to chaos in a matter of minutes when two-year-old Evan Pitcher nearly drowned in the family pool. "Nothing could ever prepare you for seeing your own flesh and blood sitting there floating in a pool," said Eric Pitcher, Evan's father. Evan and his father were playing outside when dad went in the garage to get a broom. He was gone...

U.S. doctors have found the Bee Gees 1977 disco anthem "Stayin' Alive" provides an ideal beat to follow while performing chest compressions as part of CPR on a heart attack victim.

PANJSHIR PROVINCE, Afghanistan, June 20, 2008 – Six Afghan medical providers learned basic lifesaving skills at a Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team cardiopulmonary resuscitation course held at the Rokha Clinic on June 18. Air Force Staff Sgt. Janine Duschka, a Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team medical technician, teaches the jaw thrust maneuver to Afghan medical providers during a CPR class at the Rokha Clinic, in Panjshir province, Afghanistan, June 18, 2008. This was the first of a 15-class CPR program that the Panjshir PRT is providing this year. U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Jillian Torango, Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team  (Click photo...

None of the adults at the Meridian Little League practice knew what to do Wednesday night when a 13-year-old boy collapsed rounding second base. But 14-year-old Jessica Moncrieff did. From the adjacent field, where she was scrimmaging with her club soccer team, Moncrieff could see people clapping their hands to wake the boy up. Some were screaming. But no one started CPR - not until Moncrieff ran over and took charge. And paramedics say Moncrieff may have made the difference in the young boy's life. --- SNIP ---- She was watching the boy on the ground and thinking she could...

You can skip the mouth-to-mouth breathing and just press on the chest to save a life. In a major change, the American Heart Association said Monday that hands-only CPR - rapid, deep presses on the victim's chest until help arrives - works just as well as standard CPR for sudden cardiac arrest in adults. Experts hope bystanders will now be more willing to jump in and help if they see someone suddenly collapse. Hands-only CPR is simpler and easier to remember and removes a big barrier for people skittish about the mouth-to-mouth breathing. "You only have to do two things....

You can skip the mouth-to-mouth breathing and just press on the chest to save a life. In a major change, the American Heart Association said Monday that hands-only CPR — rapid, deep presses on the victim's chest until help arrives — works just as well as standard CPR for sudden cardiac arrest in adults. Experts hope bystanders will now be more willing to jump in and help if they see someone suddenly collapse. Hands-only CPR is simpler and easier to remember and removes a big barrier for people skittish about the mouth-to-mouth breathing. "You only have to do two things....

New CPR advice: chest compressions only Heart Association hopes simpler guidelines save lives Monday, March 31, 2008 4:00 PM By Suzanne Hoholik THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Hands-only CPR When you see an adult collapse: * 1. Call 9-1-1. * 2. Start hard, fast compressions at the center of the chest. Trade off with someone if you get tired. If no one else is around, continue compressions until paramedics arrive. In an effort to get more bystanders to perform CPR, the American Heart Association issued new guidelines today changing the way it teaches the lifesaving technique by eliminating mouth-to-mouth breaths. When an...

Preparation does not always mean preparing so that you can preserve your own life. Many of us know that preparation means we have food, supplies, and money to maintain our families in the event of disaster. Some of us take it to mean that we must always scan the area around us to ensure that there are no threats. Sometimes even though we think we are ready, somebody drops a school bus out of the UFO and it smacks us in the head. No one was delivering on Saturday, so the guys at the shop asked me if I would...

Chest compressions — not mouth-to-mouth resuscitation — seem to be the key in helping someone recover from cardiac arrest, according to new research that further bolsters advice from heart experts. A study in Japan showed that people were more likely to recover without brain damage if rescuers focused on chest compressions rather than on rescue breaths, and some experts advised dropping the mouth-to-mouth part of CPR altogether. The study was published yesterday in The Lancet. More than a year ago, the American Heart Association revised CPR guidelines to put more emphasis on chest presses, recommending 30 instead of 15 for...

TOKYO, March 16 -- Bystander CPR with no mouth-to-mouth ventilation doubled the chance that those in cardiac arrest would have a good neurologic outcome, researchers here reported."Cardiac-only resuscitation by bystanders is the preferable approach to resuscitation for adult patients with witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, especially those with apnea, shockable rhythm, or short periods of untreated arrest," wrote Ken Nagao, M.D., and colleagues, of Surugadai Nihon University Hospital, in the March 17 issue of The Lancet. They found in a study of more than 4,000 cardiac arrest cases that while any attempt at out-of-hospital resuscitation was better than doing nothing at...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - If a dog is man's best friend, a disabled U.S. Air Force veteran showed the feeling is mutual by saving his drowning pet with mouth-to-snout resuscitation and CPR. Lucy, a 10-month-old English bulldog, chased ducks into a partly frozen lake near Randy Gurchin's home in Papillion, Nebraska, but quickly became paralyzed in the icy water and briefly went under. The 50-pound (23-kg) dog was unresponsive and had a blue face and bloody foam around its muzzle when Gurchin, who flew combat missions over Iraq and Afghanistan, edged onto the ice. "The ice started to crack under me....

CPR instructor saves her dog By EDIE GROSS Debbie Shepherd performed CPR countless times when she served on the Fredericksburg Rescue Squad a decade ago. But last week was the first time she'd ever had to clear a dog's airway. Her two black Labradors had just finished dinner Wednesday night and were running around her Spotsylvania backyard when 15-year-old Bear started barking. Shepherd said she walked out back to find 11-year-old Brutus wheezing and struggling to breathe. "Then his tongue went blue. I've never seen a dog's tongue go blue before," she said. Brutus, whose gums had turned white, had...

A new book by David Horowitz and Richard Poe has enraged the Left and alarmed many conservatives. It exposes the machinations of a radical clique working at the highest levels of government and finance to undermine American power. That book is The Shadow Party: How George Soros, Hillary Clinton and Sixties Radicals Seized Control of the Democratic Party. It hit the New York Times bestseller list in its first week in print. Here to tell us about The Shadow Partyis co-author Richard Poe, our esteemed colleague at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, where he serves as director of research. Mr....

If your heart suddenly stopped, how long should rescue workers try to save you? Should you be taken to the hospital even if you can't be revived and are likely to die? Canadian researchers say they've devised a test that helps rescue workers spot those futile cases and save a frantic trip to the hospital. Some paramedics with advanced training — those who can give drugs and start IVs — already are allowed to stop giving CPR if their efforts fail and they have consulted a doctor, said lead researcher, Dr. Laurie J. Morrison of the University of Toronto. But...

Dying deer given CPR By Corey Wicks Staff reporter When it comes to concern for wildlife, people in Joseph put their mouth where their concern is. Literally. Wallowa County Detective Neil Rogers was called to a report of a deer that had been hit by a vehicle Sunday, July 2, in downtown Joseph. When Rogers arrived a crowd of people had gathered in the street and were in the process of pulling the deer out from underneath a trailer, Rogers said. The deer was badly mangled but managed to wake up and stumble past the crowd. It then fell into...

A neurologist from Washington, D.C., an autonomic nervous system specialist from Philadelphia and a neuron-psychologist and psycho-pharmacologist -- both from Manhattan -- have spent a lot of time with Steven Domalewski lately.  They, and others, have been at his bedside in a Paterson hospital, using cutting-edge treatments while trying to bring the 12-year-old pitcher out of a coma."He's progressing at a really good rate," Dr. Philip De Fina said Friday. "He has definitely improved. His alertness has improved. His dad has been feeding him little bits of Italian ice, and he's breathing very well on his own."  De Fina...

Why hasn’t Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger replaced controversial movie director/initiative promoter Rob Reiner as chairman of the California Children and Families Commission? That’s the question that has many, especially Schwarzenegger’s fellow Republicans, perplexed. Reiner has stepped away, taken a “leave of absence” from his post at the so-called “First Five Commission” in the wake of revelations about its highly questionable spending practices under his leadership. But he intends to return to the chairmanship after his Proposition 82 universal preschool initiative is voted on in June, even though his term in office expired in 2004. Many Republicans thought they understood Schwarzenegger’s motivation...

Several Martinsville High School students say teachers stopped their calls to 911 while a fellow student was choking, because cell phones aren't allowed on campus. Witnesses tell police the victim was rushing to finish his lunch before leaving the cafeteria, because you can't bring food outside. That's when they say he started choking, went into cardiac arrest, and died at the hospital. Multiple 911 calls went out from Martinsville High School. Witnesses say Jesse Tucker choked on a hamburger. Paramedics rushed the 15 year-old freshman to the hospital, where he later died. "It's really hard to grasp the fact that...

N.Y. teen performs Heimlich on nurse who gave him CPR years earlier Call it a simple twist of fate — times two: A teenager in western New York state has saved the life of the same woman who years ago saved his life.

DALLAS. Nov. 28 - When it comes to CPR, doubling the number of chest compressions and delivering them more quickly is the key to saving a life, according to the American Heart Association's revised guidelines issued today. The updated guidelines call for 30 chest compressions delivered hard and fast for every two breaths administered by a single rescuer aiding a patient with cardiac arrest. That's a doubling from the 15:2 ratio, or 15 chest compressions for every two breaths, previously recommended. The guidelines, intended for everyone from bystanders to trained paramedics, were presented at a press conference here and were...

ASSOCIATED PRESS DALLAS -- Too busy to take a four-hour CPR course? New research shows the lifesaving procedure can be effectively taught in a little more than 20 minutes. The finding, presented Sunday at an American Heart Association meeting in Dallas, could broadly expand the number of Americans who can perform CPR. "It's brilliant," said Dr. Lance Becker, director of the Emergency Resuscitation Center at the University of Chicago. "I think it's going to make our ability to train people much, much easier." The study, led by Dr. Ahamed Idris, professor of emergency medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern...

California's reformer-in-chief looked a lot better in the previews For an action-hero politician who likes to taunt "girlie-men," Arnold Schwarzenegger sure turned out to be a wuss. Two years after sweeping into office with promises to "blow up boxes," perform "the Miracle of Sacramento," and "not rest until our fiscal house is in order," California's Milton Friedman–quoting governor is wasting our time with a special election that does little more than tweak his unionized political tormentors and tinker at the margins of mis-governance, while the state's fiscal house maintains its disorder of $6 billion budget deficits. The governor is tramping...

One of the more bitter ironies to emerge from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is that his beloved California Performance Review now risks becoming a monument to what it was supposed to counter - bureaucratic inefficiency. Sacramento is home to many a needless commission, panels that publish reports that no one reads and that never amount to anything. Who would have guessed that the CPR commission and its 2,200-page treatise could become but one more exercise in futility? To be fair, the CPR does have some worthwhile accomplishments to its credit: shorter lines at the DMV and reorganization at the Department...

Cable Repair Workers Rescue 10-Year-Old Boy Who Fell to Bottom of Swimming Pool The Associated Press Published: Jun 17, 2005 DES MOINES, Wash. (AP) - Two cable repairmen who learned CPR in case their families ever needed help rescued a 10-year-old boy who fell into a swimming pool, sank to the bottom and stopped breathing. Without Todd Hickam and Ryan Thornhill, Jamario Covington "wouldn't be here right now," said his mother, Melody Covington. The boy remained hospitalized Friday in stable condition. Jamario was wearing swim trunks Monday when he fell into the pool at a townhouse development in this Seattle...

SAN QUENTIN – Maligning San Quentin State Prison as "an expensive mistake," two state politicians this week urged officials to shutter the aging facility to save cash-strapped California millions of dollars. They also urged the state to back away from a plan to spend $220 million to improve the prison's death row facility. The California Department of Corrections is scheduled to break ground on a new death row this fall on 40 acres west of the existing prison on the San Francisco Bay in scenic Marin County. The legislators support a bill set to go before the Assembly Appropriations Committee...

Abandoning one of his most far-reaching and controversial proposals since taking office, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided to withdraw his plan to eliminate 88 regulatory and policy-setting boards and commissions, sources close to the governor said Wednesday. In a letter the administration plans to deliver to the state's Little Hoover Commission today, Schwarzenegger concedes the proposal needs further review. Members of the commission, which has held hearings on Schwarzenegger's proposal and plans to release a highly critical assessment at its meeting next Thursday, have already recommended that the government reorganization be scaled back substantially. Included on Schwarzenegger's hit list were...

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is often inadequately performed by doctors, paramedics and nurses, two studies of resuscitation efforts during cardiac arrest have found. Two common problems are rescuers not pushing hard enough or frequently enough on the chest to restart the heart, and rescuers breathing air into the lungs too often, either mouth to mouth or through tubes. In a study that involved 67 adults at the University of Chicago, doctors and nurses failed to follow at least one CPR guideline 80 percent of the time. Failure to follow several guidelines was common. The other study involved 176...