Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA), as the name intends, is a sudden cessation of cardiac activity. SCA can be the result of an abnormal heart rhythm, such as ventricular fibrillation (VF), which is brought about by a defect in the heart’s electrical system. SCA is often confused with a heart attack, or myocardial infarction (MI), which happens when critical blood flow to the heart is diminished or blocked. During a heart attack, the heart is usually still beating and the victim is usually awake and can communicate. With SCA, the victim becomes unresponsive, unconscious, pulseless, stops breathing, and is technically dead. Without immediate intervention, the SCA victim will remain this way.

For every minute which passes, the chances for survival from SCA diminishes about 10%; 9 out of 10 victims die. If a bystander intervenes with CPR, even compressions-only, and employs an AED before EMS arrives, 4 out of 10 victims survive. The treatment must ideally be initiated within 3 – 5 minutes of the collapse. To have emergency personnel respond within 3 – 5 minutes is often impossible. This is why it is up to each of us to get the needed CPR/AED training. SCA can happen at any time, anywhere, and to anyone. It may happen to someone near and dear.

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