So -in summary- to give hands-only CPR (in other words just push hard and fast on the center of the chest until emergency responders come -no breathing), the victim MUST be an adult who collapsed in front of you. It’s that simple, but I’ve seen news reports and other videos on the web that don’t emphasize this enough. They might mention it once quickly and then just hype up how you don’t have to breathe and -as a result- people miss the most important detail!
In my CPR certification and First Aid certification classes, I teach people the truth that hands-only CPR (no breathing) only provides benefit for the first 6 minutes in an adult whom you witness suddenly collapse. After the 6 minutes, the compressions provide no benefit unless you breath for them to get some oxygen to push around their body and up to their brain. As I mentioned in my video, that is the whole point of CPR: Saving a person’s brain from brain damage. And you can’t do that unless you can pump their heart (and thus get oxygen to their brain).
For children and infants, the compressions alone are not recommended because their little bodies don’t have enough oxygen volume. Also, in a scenario where you walk in on an adult who is unresponsive and not breathing at work, at home, out at the ball field, at the mall or the airport; the compressions alone are not recommended either because you didn’t witness them collapse and you thus don’t know how long they have been without breath.
I hope this made the AHA recommendations crystal clear and emphasize the need for good CPR and First Aid instruction for adults, children and infants. Thanks for reading! Until next time. -Steven St. Laurent