T-L Photos/JOSIE BURKHART The Cumberland Trail Fire District team is ready to respond to 911 calls. To help them save a life, a bystander can intervene in a medical emergency before they get there. Shown from left are Josh Cooper, Chris Cocca, Zed Redd and Dustin Roe.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Belmont County health officials and medical personnel recommend educating yourself on CPR and automated external defibrillators in connection with a new statewide campaign dubbed “Every Minute Counts.”

Every Minutes Counts is “an initiative by the Ohio Emergency Medical Services and the Ohio Department of Public Safety to encourage Ohioans to provide bystander care when someone is suffering a life-threatening medical emergency,” according to Ohio Emergency Medical Services.

OEMS and the Ohio Department of Public Safety launched the campaign July 29 to encourage Ohioans to learn basic bystander care.

“It increases the chances of survival when you have early CPR and early defibrillation,” Cumberland Trail Fire District Assistant Chief Daniel Grady said. “That’s where the importance of, you know, bystander CPR comes in. It does take a little bit of time to activate the 911 system and send responders there, so every minute that you’re performing CPR or defibrillation of the heart is very important.”

According to Ohio Emergency Medical Services, every minute without hands-only CPR reduces the chance of survival by 10 percent.

“Every minute is a 10 percentile on somebody’s life,” said Lt. Tim Bell of the Bellaire Volunteer Fire Department. “So if it takes them five minutes to get there, that’s 50% right there. Now, if they start as soon as somebody goes down, it’s only been one minute. That’s only 10 percent, so that’s a pretty good percentile.”

Bell noted that CPR is not the only way a bystander can help. If the medical emergency calls for it, someone can do chest compressions or the Heimlich maneuver.

He emphasized that every minute counts when doing CPR, because if your body doesn’t pump blood through the main arteries, body parts that are deprived can die.

“So CPR and the first three minutes are critical because every minute is 10% of their life,” Bell said.

Bystanders may be hesitant when it comes to intervening in medical emergency situations because of the fear of being sued or being responsible for the loss of a life, Bell said. Grady noted that people fear they may do more harm than good and don’t feel educated enough to help.

Bell said helping a person who’s experiencing a medical episode outweighs the risk of not helping at all because when someone doesn’t try, that could lead to heavier guilt than trying and not succeeding because “you know you did everything in your ability to help.”

To become more comfortable with intervening in medical emergencies, a person can take CPR and AED classes as well as visiting their local fire and EMS departments and asking questions.

Bell noted a critical action to take during a situation when someone doesn’t feel comfortable is to still call 911 as soon as someone appears to be in need of assistance.

Grady raised the concern that people might not want to learn CPR to perform on a stranger if needed, but it’s still beneficial to know because people have family and friends who could have a heart attack at any age.

Grady recommends taking an American Red Cross or American Heart Association CPR class.

Deputy Health Commissioner for the Belmont County Health Department Rob Sproul said if bystanders are able to help, they can help prevent a death or other negative health outcome.

“As long as you have some general knowledge to help that person, you should,” he said.