In addition to riding the Tilt-A-Whirl, gobbling down a VFW burger, and petting a goat, Stanislaus County Fair-goers this year will have a chance to learn a life-saving lesson.
Emanuel Medical Center is partnering with the Stanislaus Heart Rescue Project and American Medical Response to teach compression-only cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, on July 13 at the Stanislaus County Fair. Emanuel is sponsoring that day at the fair and seniors 65 years and older will be given free admission.
“With compression-only CPR, you only perform chest compressions and don’t breathe into the person’s lungs,” explained Michael Corbin, the clinical education manager at American Medical Response. “For someone who has had sudden cardiac arrest, it’s all you need to do, and we can teach compression-only CPR in 10 minutes.”
Every year, more than 400,000 Americans experience sudden cardiac arrest, and more than 90 percent of them die. The goal of the Heart Rescue Project is to cut the death rate by half.
“Compression-only CPR, which we also call bystander CPR, can save lives,” Corbin said. “As fair-goers will learn at the Emanuel booth, the keys are to recognize that someone has gone into cardiac arrest, call 911 immediately, then perform compression-only CPR. If there is an automated external defibrillator available, use that next, or just keep performing compressions until help arrives.”
The American Heart Association estimates that about 30 percent of the population is able to perform CPR in a critical situation. According to the AHA, performing CPR can double a person’s chance of survival from sudden cardiac arrest. The AHA also found that 75 percent of all cardiac arrests happen in people’s home, so knowing CPR is more likely to save the life of a loved one than a complete stranger.
Everyone who completes the CPR training at Emanuel’s booth that day will leave with a special gift, said hospital spokesperson Pennie Rorex.
“Certified CPR instructors will be in the booth all day and night on July 13, so people can just stop by and in 10 minutes they’ll know how to help save a life,” Rorex said. “In addition, visitors can spin the wheel and in doing so, answer a true or false question about heart health. Every spinner wins something as well.”
