Dysfunction Junkies
Two high school besties reconnect and commiserate their stories as they navigate the dysfunctions of life from marriage, families, illness, death of childhood families, and creating healthy boundaries. Join them each week as Chrisy and Kerry share their stories and life lessons all with a zest of wit, humor, and love. They may not have seen it all, but they have seen enough!
Dysfunction Junkies
February Junkies Care: Heart Help, Right Now
Hello February! Junkies you know what that means, a new month, a new Dysfunction Junkies CARE. This month we are supporting the American Heart Association. Since the American Heart Association was founded in 1924, deaths from cardiovascular diseases have been cut in half. But heart disease remains the leading cause of death, and there's still so much more to do. Together, we can save more lives. And for our International listeners, through collaboration with international partners, the American Heart Association works to bring science to life through the creation of programs and campaigns that support the World Health Organization’s goal of reducing premature deaths from non-communicable diseases by 25% by 2025 and help reduce the international burden of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Listen in to learn more.
#dysfunctionjunkiespodcast #hearthealth #aha #americanheartassociation #february
Thank you for listening. Be sure to check out our Facebook and Instagram pages for additional content. We often post polls and other questions for your feedback. We would love to hear from you, and if you like our show please take a moment to give us a Five Star Review!
Love our show and want to support us? Click on this link to submit a one time or reoccurring donation. https://www.buzzsprout.com/2398402/support
www.facebook.com/DysfunctionJunkies
https://www.instagram.com/dysfunctionjunkies
https://www.youtube.com/@DysfunctionJunkies
https://dysfunctionjunkiespodcast.com
Dysfunction Junkies has all rights to the songs "Hit the Ground Running" created by Ryan Prewett and "Happy Hour" created by Evert Z.
Welcome to Junkies Care, a special edition of the Dysfunction Junkies Podcast. We may not have seen it all, but we've seen enough. And now, here are your hosts, Chrissy and Carrie.
KERRY:Hello, Junkies. I'm Carrie. And I'm Chrissy. And it's another month for Junkies Care. It's February 1st. February 1st. So, Chrissy, I have a few questions to ask you.
CHRISY:Okay. How's your heart? Good, I guess. So far, it hasn't uh given me too much trouble. So ticking on you pretty good. Ticking on me pretty good. It's very important, and I appreciate my uh You just you just had an EKG done.
KERRY:I did, yes. And everything was ticking accordingly. Yes, it was. Good for you. Yes. Have you do you know how to do CPR? No. You you seriously don't? Oh my god. No, I don't. I really thought you.
CHRISY:Well, I know that you like have to like get to that point under where that bone ends in the chest there. And then is that like, is it right above that that you're supposed to start peeping? You don't want to go under it. You want to go above. Yes.
KERRY:Oh okay.
CHRISY:Oh, yeah, yeah. Because uh when I was doing my rowing, mine was that bone was kind of your sternum. The siphoid process. Oh, okay. When I was a freshman in high school, yes, they did offer in your health class to learn CPR and get your CPR card. Yes. You skipped that class? No. There was a thing with having them in the boys room. No, no, no, not yet. The process of putting your mouth on something that other people were putting their mouth on.
KERRY:And uh this was pre-COVID for us. Pre prehistoric COVID.
CHRISY:It was prehistoric. It was as a freshman in high school. Everyone was sharing the same mannequin to pour like alcohol on it, but I just saw the person in front of me licking and spitting all over it. I was like, Yeah, I think I'm gonna sit this one out, you know? Yeah, it's terrible. I shouldn't know that, especially because I have kids.
KERRY:That's what shocked me about it. So you've never had to give CPR to somebody.
CHRISY:Oh my goodness. No. You have? Yes, I have.
KERRY:Oh my goodness. Yes. So why are we talking about all this? We are talking about all this because this month for Junkies Care, we are supporting the American Heart Association.
CHRISY:Yes.
KERRY:So the American Heart Association is really an amazing organization. It was founded in 1924. And since they were founded, cardiovascular deaths have been cut in half because of all the research and education that the American Heart Association does. Now, granted, heart disease and cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death in the United States. But again, through all the great work with the American Heart Association, so three different types of things that American Heart Association helps with is research. So they do a lot in research to be able to help identify different heart diseases and treatments, things like that, to improve care. So again, education, you know, helping people to live healthier lives, so to be able to keep their heart healthy. But another thing is life-saving techniques. So teaching CPR. All of this is part of their initiatives. And then some interesting facts that every 34 seconds, heart disease claims another life. I was kind of surprised. I mean, I knew it was a leading cause of death, but to think about every 34 seconds. So, anyways, you asked if I've done CPR. Yeah. Yes. I am CPR certified, was certified when I was in college early because I had to take a lifeguard training course to pursue my career of working with aquatic animals at that point in my life. So I had taken a lifeguard class and in that week got CPR certified. And probably within three weeks of that happening, my second husband at the time and I were at a nightclub that was for it was mostly the people that were there were all hearing impaired. It was a group of friends that we had that were deaf or hearing hard of hearing. And so we were at a club with them. And this was a very multi-generational club. So you had the younger people on one side of the place that was listening to very loud music. I know that kind of sounds funny. We were at a deaf club, but it had very loud music. But yes, it was. And it had a bar. And on the other side was like much older generation that was playing cards and things like that. And it was just a really nice hangout place. And we would go there on Friday nights. It was actually in downtown Youngstown. When we were there one night, somebody from the older side that was playing cards collapsed.
CHRISY:Oh my God.
KERRY:I had to me and one of the other people that was there started doing CPR on this person, had to help mitigate when the paramedics came because there was only about three of us in the room that were hearing and could sign. So not only was I doing CPR, but I was trying to interpret for the paramedics what was going on with the room and with the wife and of the person that unfortunately the person had had a major stroke and nothing we did or could have done would have saved him. But the family that was there, the wife that was there and the friends that were there at least felt in that moment that he had every opportunity if he was going to survive to survive. Because they say that one of the things about CPR is it's that initial getting initial care immediately is what can make the difference. So, you know, having that skill of CPR was, you know, it's crucial to it could be it literally is a matter of life and death. And uh I encourage everybody to take a CPR class. And it's so much easier nowadays because because we've learned from COVID and because of all the wonderful research that the American Heart Association has done, they've learned that compressions is actually a little bit more important than breath. So even if you are giving CPR to somebody and if you don't feel comfortable in doing the breath part, just the act of doing the compressions can save a life. So I definitely encourage everybody to take a class. Including, I guess you're looking at me. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I'm looking at you. Yes. Yes, I'm looking at you. Because you never know. No, you don't. You never know. Do you have a choke kit in the house? She's looking at me again, like I'm have horns coming out of my head. You don't have a choke kit? You have children and you don't have a choke. What? What? What? What is this? What is dust? What is that? So, you know, the Heimlich maneuver. Uh-huh. So this is a choke kit. It's kind of like a big suction pump that you can put over someone's mouth, and if they're choking on something, it'll help pull it out easier than doing the Heimlich. And it's really, it's really great for kids. And it's like a$50 device you can get on Amazon. So yeah. So I would, I know that may not be related to the heart, but in house safety or things that you should maybe have or learn. Yeah, add to cart, choke kit.
CHRISY:Well, why don't they tell us that I took the baby classes. They didn't say nothing about having it.
KERRY:They probably didn't have that back then.
CHRISY:Oh hey. It's been sooner for me than most people might actually. So it may not no, I never heard of that. Yeah.
KERRY:But the CPR classes, I mean, yes, you can definitely get those through a lot of different places. A lot of times your local fire department will even do them. And it may not be a certification, but they'll at least teach you the techniques. So you could go to, you know, just pretty check in your community because I'm sure there's going to be a place, but it's definitely a your local health department. Your local health department. There you go, Nick. Good job on that one. I wonder where you pulled that one out of. Oh, I guess you should, yeah. Each year, over 350,000 people experience a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital, and only 10% survive due to lack of timely CPR. So American Heart Association trains 22 million people annually, doubling the survival rates. It's important. It's important. And the American Heart Association is very important. It is very important. So there's so many ways that you can help support the American Heart Association. They obviously have a donation on their website where you can donate funds in tax. It can be tax-deductible funds. You can do it in honor and memory of somebody. You can donate online. And then you can also just help by sharing the word about, you know, the importance of CPR safety, the importance of heart health. They often have different 5K walks that you can participate in to support them in their mission and also spread the word. So we always have a team. You have a team for the heart.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, my daytime job. We have a team, our agency, yeah.
KERRY:Yes. But uh definitely worth going to. So share your input on American Heart Association. Anything else you got there, Nick?
SPEAKER_00:Uh no, we just are we always we send a team every year and it's for a the a walking event they have locally here at the high school. You know, we participate, we send a team every year. I've actually honestly have not had a chance to go in person because it always tends to be around a time that I have a a conference that I have to attend every year. Um but we do sell uh you know a lot of our staff go and uh you know it's we we raise money for the American Heart Association.
KERRY:So the American Heart Association spends about six billion dollars a year investing in research funding. And because of that, there's been a reduction of deaths from heart disease by 15% just since 2018. Train 22 million people a year in CPR and let's see, 12 million people a year, they reach out and teach uh nutrition, and they also have helped in the reduction of deaths from stroke by 13.6 percent. So great organization. Very great.
SPEAKER_00:So we appreciate everything they do. They've been doing it for over 100 years now.
KERRY:Yes, they have over a hundred years.
CHRISY:They had their hundred-year anniversary a couple years ago.
KERRY:Exactly. So being that we're in the month of February, the month of love. Love you. So we thought we yes, exactly. Love your heart, support the American Heart Association, and uh, we look forward to you guys tuning in the rest of the month and see what what other love antics that we have for you. Yes, please do. All right, bye-bye. Bye, everybody.
