Knowing how and when to apply cardiopulmonary resuscitation and use an automated external defibrillator can save lives, the Compress & Shock Foundation says.
That’s why Aurora BayCare Medical Center is teaming up with Compress & Shock, a national non-profit organization, to train local businesses and individuals to recognize cardiac arrest and administer life-saving compressions and, if needed, AED shocks.
Compress & Shock will hold its sixth annual free compression-only CPR and AED training sessions at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 21, at the West Side YMCA at 601 Cardinal Lane in Howard and at the East Side YMCA at 1740 S. Huron Road in Bellevue. The hour-long sessions will be supervised by licensed paramedics, certified instructors, registered nurses, medical students and physicians, including Drs. Bob Zemple and Steve Stroman of BayCare Clinic. Both will provide instruction during the May 21 event.
“Time is an extremely precious commodity when it comes to cardiac emergencies,” says Zemple, an emergency medicine physician. “Our goal is to properly train more people within the community so we’ll be able to save many more lives. We want community members to become more comfortable to initiate CPR and use an AED, which is part of the critical chain for survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.”
About 350,000 sudden cardiac arrests – the sudden loss of heart function – occur away from hospitals each year. The survival rate is less than 10%. The chance of survival increases tremendously when CPR and AED use begins before emergency medical providers arrive on the scene. An AED administers a shock to a patient’s heart to restore a normal heart rhythm.
Follow these links to RSVP for the training session at the location and time of your choice: West Side at 9 a.m.; West Side at 11 a.m.; East Side at 9 a.m.; East Side at 11 a.m.