If you see someone fall down suddenly, perhaps as a result of a heart attack, what can you do while you wait for professional help?
Chen Wenqiaochu set a good example when he was fourteen. He performed CPR (心复苏术) on a staff person at his school, saving the man's life in 2013. According to medical experts, there is a "golden period" — the first four minutes of a heart attack. During this time, CPR is best for saving the person's life.
In August, 2020, all public schools nationwide were asked to provide CPR courses in China, as part of health education. CPR is not hard to grasp. All that one needs to know is how to watch and decide if a person has a heart attack, where to press on the patient's chest (胸), and how to blow air through the mouth and into the lungs (肺) .
Unluckily, less than one percent of Chinese adults have mastered the skill of CPR, while many have never heard of it. A 2019 survey from China Youth Daily showed that although 64.6% of schools opened health education courses, the teaching results were not satisfactory.
Zhao Shengyu, a graduate from a high school, remembered her first time to be taught CPR in the class. "No model, video or practice was included. I realized the acts I had been taught had lots of mistakes after I was trained another time in a medical school," she said. According to her own experience, Zhao said more professional CPR courses in schools were necessary.
Most countries have attached importance to CPR training. It was shown in a survey in 2017 that more than half of Americans had received CPR training. Switzerland, Germany, France and some other countries have also provided CPR training.
