Sunrise Fire Rescue Trains 1,000+ Florida Citizens in CPR

Guest blogger: Danielle DiGiacomo, Fire Prevention Specialist, City of Sunrise

The first week in June, Sunrise Fire Rescue issued a newsletter on the City of Sunrise website and at residents’ association meetings, spreading the word about National CPR and  AED Awareness Week that directed people to the American Heart Association (AHA)’s Hands-Only^TM CPR video online.  Using the Hands-Only CPR social media marketing tools provided on the American Heart Association’s website, posts were created throughout the week on both Fire Rescue’s  and the City’s main Facebook and Twitter pages.  A Hands-Only CPR training also was provided for the Sawgrass Mills Walmart employees on June 5. 

The video was shown again at the City Commission meeting held the following week, after a brief introduction from Fire Chief, Thomas DiBernardo.  At the National Night Out event held on August 4 at the Sunrise Public Safety complex, Sunrise Fire Rescue set up and staffed a Hands-Only CPR training booth for the 1000 plus patrons with a laptop playing two different American Heart Association Hands-Only CPR videos, and a third video from the British Heart Association looped back-to-back.  Sunrise Fire Rescue ran this training booth again on August 8 for the city’s Back-to-School event, now with two 50” TVs running the looped videos.  Going forward, Sunrise Fire Rescue is planning additional Hands-Only CPR trainings for local schools and churches.

In addition to raising awareness of Hands-Only CPR, Sunrise Fire Rescue has been testing the PulsePoint smartphone app, in preparation to become the first city in South Florida to adopt it.  Working with EMS dispatch centers and intended for civilians trained in CPR, PulsePoint alerts the user when bystander CPR is needed nearby.  PulsePoint directs the user to the nearest publicly accessible AED, as well as the location of the cardiac emergency.  This gives everyday citizens trained in CPR the opportunity to provide potentially lifesaving assistance in the window of time between the initial call to 9-1-1 and the arrival of EMS. Bystander CPR administered prior to EMS arrival has been shown to significantly improve outcomes in viable patients, and the PulsePoint app is credited with saving lives in Orlando and throughout California, where it is already is in use.  Testing for Sunrise Fire Rescue is in its final stages with a launch date to be announced soon.