HEALTH – In honor of National CPR Week, the American Heart Association is collaborating with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services Agency, local hospitals and emergency healthcare providers to teach residents how to save a life with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
This service is free to the public and will be held in various locations across Southern California, including the Antelope Valley, with the goal of increasing the number of lifesavers in the community.
Antelope Valley Hospital (AVH) and American Medical Response Inc. will join these efforts and host free Hands-Only CPR training on the hospital campus at the corner of Avenue J-3 and 15th Street West on Thursday, June 7 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Participants will learn the basics and proper techniques of Hands-Only CPR and have the opportunity to practice on mannequins. The training will not result in CPR certification, but information on how you can get certified will be available.
“Most cardiac emergencies happen at home, yet the majority of Americans feel helpless to act because they either do not know how to administer CPR or their training has significantly lapsed,” says Edward Mirzabegian, AVH Chief Executive Officer. “Our goal is to make sure that all Antelope Valley residents have the skills to save a life during a cardiac emergency.”
Nearly 300,000 out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrests occur annually and only 32 percent of cardiac arrest victims get CPR from a bystander. Failure to act in a cardiac emergency can lead to unnecessary deaths.
In fact, less than eight percent of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside the hospital survive.
On the other hand, effective bystander CPR provided immediately after sudden cardiac arrest can double or triple a victim’s chance of survival. By using Hands-Only CPR, bystanders can still act to improve the odds of survival, whether they are trained in conventional CPR or not.
For more information about the free Hands-Only CPR training, contact Meredith Graham at 661-949-5130.
–
