BATON ROUGE — June is CPR and AED Awareness Month, and if you don't know how to do CPR, now is a good time to learn.

You never know when an emergency could happen.

“There's incredible data that delays in CPR will actually change the outcome quite considerably for a patient. And conversely, if you can intervene within those first few minutes, even the chances of that patient actually having a survival skyrocket,” cardiologist Nicholas Ruthmann said.

Some people might be afraid of stepping in during an emergency to perform CPR, but the consequences of not doing something can be so much worse.

For CPR, the first step is to check the person's pulse and see if they are breathing. If you don't notice any activity, begin CPR right away. One hundred to 120 chest compressions per minute are recommended, pushing fast and hard.

Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation is not necessary.

If there is an AED device available, you should consider using that.

"This is a device that can help re-shock the heart. And if the heart needs to be shocked back, shocking them with this AED is truly the biggest lifesaver that can happen. And just like CPR, the sooner that can happen, the better. A lot of people fear this new device that they've never seen, they've never opened up, they've never used. It will do the work for you. It will tell you exactly. All you have to do is just open it up, press 'on', and listen and follow the instructions,” Ruthmann said.

A majority of cardiac arrests happen at home, which is why knowing CPR is recommended. You can find information on classes in the Baton Rouge area through the American Red Cross website.