AHA Celebrates CPR Awareness Week

 

Guest Blogger: Lindsay Hovind, Washington Government Relations Director

The American Heart Association and partner organizations fanned out across Western Washington last week to celebrate National CPR and AED Awareness Week. Volunteers hosted Hands-Only™ CPR trainings at famous local landmarks including the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, and the Woodland Park Zoo. Each training session taught adults and kids alike how to get medical help and perform chest compressions, as well as practice compressions on manikins.

Why is CPR training so important? Each year, an estimated 326,200 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the United States, which can lead to unexpected death. Cardiac arrest is the abrupt loss of heart function in a person who may or may not have diagnosed heart disease. Nationwide about 92 percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims die before reaching the hospital, but statistics prove that if more people knew CPR, more lives could be saved. Immediate CPR can double, or even triple, a victim’s chance of survival.

Have you learned Hands-Only CPR? In less than two minutes you can learn to save a life. There are just two simple steps: 1. Call 911. 2. Push hard and fast in the center of the chest until help arrives.

Special thanks to our partner organizations who helped make these National CPR and AED Awareness Week trainings possible: City of Seattle, King County, Medic One Foundation, Mountain to Sound Chapter of American Association of Critical Care Nurses, Nick of Time Foundation, and The Hope Heart Institute.

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