Frequently Asked Questions

CanROC or the Canadian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium is an organization composed of Canadian resuscitation researchers in collaboration with Emergency Medical Services (EMS) partner agencies from across Canada working towards increasing survival from sudden cardiac arrest and life threatening trauma.

Sudden cardiac arrest is when the heart stops beating suddenly due to an abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia). It is a medical emergency and requires someone to start performing CPR and to call 911.

https://canet-nce.ca/our-work/research/sudden-cardiac-death/

No – a heart attack is when a blockage occurs in one or more of the arteries that supply blood to the heart; a cardiac arrest is caused by an arrhythmia and the heart stops beating. In layman’s terms, a heart attack is a “plumbing” problem and a cardiac arrest is an “electrical problem”.

https://www.heartandstroke.ca/heart/conditions/cardiac-arrest

The risk factors for cardiac arrest include:

• A prior heart attack or heart disease
• High cholesterol (hyperlipidemia)
• High blood pressure (hypertension)
• Cigarette smoking
• Lack of physical activity
• Being overweight
• Having high blood sugar (diabetes)
• A family history of heart disease at a young age

Cardiac arrest can occur to anyone at any time, however, most of the time it affects people who have one or more of the known risk factors. Sometimes cardiac arrest can affect young (age < 35) people with little or any warning signs. These warning signs can include fainting during exercise or out of the blue, and dizziness during exercise. If someone you know if experiencing these types of symptoms, encourage him/her to see his/her doctor to get checked out. For more information please visit the Canadian SADS Foundation.

If you see someone collapse, go over and check to see if he/she is responsive. You can do this by shaking his/her shoulders and saying loudly: “are you ok?” If you don’t get a response, call 911 and start CPR right away.

CPR is when you push down on the person’s chest to help keep their heart alive. Push down hard (as hard as you can) and between 100-120 beats per minute (to the rhythm of Staying Alive).

You should also ask for someone to go and get an AED or Automated External Defibrillator. An AED is a device that analyzes the person’s heart rhythm and decides to give a shock or not. The sooner you use it, the better the person’s chance at surviving. AEDs can be found in most public buildings and are usually mounted on the wall.

As soon as you get the AED, attach the pads to the person’s chest so it can analyze the person’s heart rhythm and decide to give a shock or not. If it decides to give a shock it will say, “push the flashing shock button”. Make sure that nobody is touching the patient before pushing the shock button. After pushing the button the AED will tell you to start CPR and will keep telling you to perform CPR until it is time to analyze the person’s heart rhythm again. Keep doing this until EMS (Emergency Medical Services) arrives.

On our resources page we have a list of websites and relevant publications that you may find helpful.

At C-SCAN, we are always looking for new partners or collaborators, including survivors of SCA and family members of SCD (Sudden Cardiac Death) victims. Please contact: CSCAN@smh.ca