“WILL YOU BE READY?”

LA County Kicks Off CPR & AED Week with Hands-Only CPR Training

Los Angeles, CA – LA County marked the start of National Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Awareness Week with a lifesaving training to arm Angelenos with the skills to help save someone’s life in the event of cardiac arrest.

The event was held at Grand Park where participants received one-on-one instruction and were able to practice on manikins. They also heard powerful first-hand accounts from cardiac arrest survivors who were saved by bystanders who gave them CPR.

The training brought together medical teams and healthcare professionals from the Emergency Medical Services Agency, the County of Los Angeles Fire Department, the City of Los Angeles Fire Department, the American Heart Association, and PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital.

“This week is incredibly important. We highlight the value of learning bystander CPR, a key step in the chain of survival for cardiac arrest.” said Doctor Nicole Bosson, Medical Director for the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency (EMS). “With nearly 8,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in LA County each year, imagine the number of lives we can save if every person in Los Angeles has this life-saving skill.”

CPR focuses on the first few minutes following cardiac arrest, its goal is to keep blood and oxygen pumping to vital organs which can triple survival chances.

When someone is unresponsive and not breathing normally, emergency personnel recommend ensuring the area is safe, calling 911, attempting to locate an AED and then performing CPR. To perform Hands-Only CPR push hard and fast in the center of the chest at 100 – 120 beats per minute until emergency services arrive. To help keep up the pace, you can push to the beat of “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees or to Taylor Swift’s “The Man”.

The impact of this training is personal for Melissa Ziebell who credits two strangers with saving her life after collapsing during a half-marathon at age 33.  “I remember seeing my legs while I was running and then suddenly, I was not able to move them. I saw a little bit of me falling down, but that’s the last thing I remember”.  Although she never learned the names of the people that saved her, she is grateful they knew what to do when her heart stopped.

With nearly 3 out of 4 cardiac arrests happening at home, the goal of Hands-Only CPR is to make sure more people in LA County feel ready to respond in an emergency.

Additional pop-up training events will happen throughout the week at various locations as part of CPR & AED Awareness Week from June 1 – June 7. For other training events, CPR videos, or more information, please visit the Sidewalk CPR section in the LA Health Services webpage.

###