Doubling, Tripling Cardiac Arrest Survival in Stamford
Dr. Nero is working to train the entire city of Stamford in compression-only CPR with the goal of dramatically improving survival rate for cardiac arrest
Dr. Thomas Nero, a cardiologist at Stamford Hospital, was delighted when in a relatively short period of time, two men survived cardiac arrest. Key to their dramatic recovery was the fact that Stamford Hospital had recent initiated a program for therapeutic hypothermia, treating victims of cardiac arrest with cooling therapy to bring the body's temperature down, reducing the brain's need for oxygen while the medical team works to revive the heart. It's a breakthrough treatment that can reduce the odds a patient will suffer significant neurological damage - without it, says Dr. Nero, it's unlikely that either of these cases would have survived. "Instead of congratulating ourselves, though, I was thinking about what had gone right. Here in Stamford, the survival rate for cardiac arrest is 5-8%, about the same as it is nationally - why did these two, within a relatively short period of time, make it when so many other's don't? We had an opportunity to learn from that."
In fact, says Dr. Nero, there were really two reasons these men had survived. The emergency response team was there quickly to do what they needed to do - but also, both victims received "bystander CPR," one from a stranger taking instruction in how to do it from the EMS dispatcher. According to Dr. Nero, only about 25% of people who need CPR actually get it. He resolved to change this … and he's been working at doing so ever since.
This summer, Dr. Nero began his Hands for Life program, launched on the golf greens at Sterling Farms in Stamford in early August, where 300 people received CPR training one sunny Saturday before heading out to play. The training is what Dr. Nero calls hands-only CPR, involving chest compression but no mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and also includes instruction in using a defibrillator if one happens to be nearby. The technique is simply and easy to learn in one five-minute lesson.
Father of a two-year-old and a Stamford resident for three and a half years now, Dr. Nero says his goal is to get everyone in the community trained. "This is a tight community where people really care about one another, so I know we can do this," he says. "I was training some volunteers in the technique and one of them asked me why I want to do this." The answer was easy: "I live here," he said. "This is a way we can double or triple our survival rate for cardiac arrest here in Stamford. I have a large practice here now and my patients are my friends. I want everyone to have the best outcome because I really care. "