(guitar music)
- [Voiceover] We can use our hands for many things,
and if the situation arises,
even help save a life.
The simple but effective method of CPR,
which has saved countless lives
since it's birth 50 years ago,
is the result of a quest to sustain life
that began in ancient times.
The first successful attempt to revive someone
with mouth to mouth resuscitation
was recorded in the 18th century,
but the technique was later abandoned,
replaced by a number of ineffective
and sometimes bizarre methods.
The modern use of mouth to mouth resuscitation
began in the 1950s
when a polio epidemic gripped the nation.
A young Dr. James Elam was on the wards
of University Hospital in Minnesota
when he saw nurses rapidly wheeling a teenage boy
down the corridor.
The boy was turning blue
clearly just moments from death.
The night before Dr. Elam had read
about an unorthodox method of resuscitating
a non-breathing patient,
and his instincts told him to use it now.
As others looked on and gasped,
he placed his mouth over the boy's
and blew air into his lungs.
- In three breaths he was pink.
I was then advised by the smart intern
that I would get polio.
I guess I was just cocky.
I don't know.
There's also the fact that
here's a human being about to die,
and I knew the manual methods wouldn't work either.
I didn't have any oxygen.
Yes I did, right there.
- [Voiceover] Dr Elam's bold and compassionate act
saved the boy's life
and gave the world the first reliable method
to revive someone who has stopped breathing.
As Dr. Elam, Dr. Peter Safar, and others
pursued the development of this technique,
another equally important discovery
was being made, by accident.
Doctors recognized that rescue breathing alone
was not enough to resuscitate stopped hearts.
Among those addressing the problem
was Dr. William Kouwenhoven,
an electrical engineer
who had spearheaded the creation
of the defibrillator a decade earlier.
While conducting experiments
to improve defibrillation techniques,
Kouwenhoven and his colleagues unexpectedly found
that pressing hard on the chest
with defibrillator paddles could force blood
to flow from the heart.
Further tests showed that the technique
of external compression was as effective
as open chest heart massage.
Eventually, the researchers working separately
on external compression and ventilation joined forces.
When they appeared jointly
at a conference in Maryland in 1960
and announced that combining the two methods
produced the first truly effective approach to resuscitation
they made history and changed lives.
Since that time, researchers have continued
to study and refine the techniques of CPR,
leading to the most recent recommendation
that hands only CPR can be just as effective
as traditional CPR for adults who have collapsed
from a sudden cardiac arrest.
Thousand of lives have been saved by CPR,
but statistics alone can't convey the impact
that this method has had on individual lives.
- I had a great life.
I had a beautiful wife, two lovely girls,
was 38 years old at the time,
was in good shape,
the thought that I might be
at risk for heart disease was not there,
and I show up, and the last thing I expect to do
is drop dead that day.
- Got up one morning
to go to the fitness center to work out.
I've been doin' it several months.
And I walk in and there's seven or eight people standing,
and I see Stuart laying on the floor,
motionless.
A couple other seconds go by.
I'm not a doctor.
I took a CPR course about six months previously,
and so I checked his pulse
and I certainly didn't feel anything.
But he had just a split second worth a doubt
where you try to figure out about what you really do next.
And then you just know this guy doesn't have any air,
and he's not, his heart's not beating.
And I launched into CPR.
Fortunately, after doing it for several minutes,
the paramedics showed up,
and they put the defib on.
He did not have a pulse.
They shocked him a couple of times,
and brought him back.
- [Stuart] There had been six to eight people witnessed me.
When I had the event,
they didn't know what was going on.
They thought I was having a seizure.
They did call 911 and the club did have a defibrillator.
- I always told myself I just really needed
to go get the training,
'cause I didn't want to be in a position
where I couldn't help in the event
I was faced with those circumstances again.
- [Stuart] Without Steve, without CPR,
I just wouldn't be here.
The gift that he's given me
is extraordinary.
Just the time that I've had with my family,
with my children,
you can't put a price on that.
- [Voieover] To see the full video
about the fascinating history
behind the creation of CPR,
and how you can help save a life,
go to heart.org/CPR.