If you don’t know CPR already, take the time to learn it. The American Heart Association and International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation adopted new CPR guidelines in September of 2000. According to these guidelines, the first thing to do when you find an unresponsive adult is to call 911, then begin CPR. Exceptions to this rule include adult victims of submersion, trauma, and drug intoxication and infants and children up to age eight. In any of these cases, perform CPR before taking the time to dial 911. Children younger than age eight should receive about one minute of CPR before 911 is called.
If you feel that someone may have suffered a stroke, get the victim to a hospital as soon as possible. Be sure to call the hospital and let them know you are on the way.
If there are no signs of circulation-such as normal breathing, coughing, or movement-the guidelines recommend that you provide two breaths, known as rescue breaths. If there continue to be no signs of circulation or breathing after the rescue breaths have been provided, begin chest compressions. When there are one or two rescuers giving an adult CPR (that is, a victim age eight years or older), you should perform about 100 compressions per minute. For every fifteen compressions, give the victims two breaths. When giving CPR to a child or infant, you should still perform the same 100 compressions per minute, but give the victim one breath for every five compressions. Chest-compression-only CPR is recommended only when the rescuer is unwilling or unable to perform mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing.