According to the American Heart Association, about 350,000 people a year go into sudden cardiac arrest outside of a hospital. From that, only about 46 percent of those people who experience an out of hospital cardiac arrest get immediate help by bystanders before professional help arrives.
National Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation/Automated External Defibrillator Week, June 1 to 7, sponsored by the American Heart Association, is meant to help support CPR and AED education, and spotlight the lives that CPR and the use of AEDs save.
For CPR/AED Week, the Chula Vista Fire Department, Chula Vista Fire Fighters Foundation and Chula Vista’s Citizens Emergency Response Team have partnered to host the first free CPR/AED marathon on June 3 and 4 at fire station 4, 850 Paseo Ranchero.
CPR/AED certification classes will be offered throughout the day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. In addition, several classes will be offered in Spanish. Each participant, upon successful completion, will receive an American Heart Association Heart Saver CPR/AED card good for two years from the date of the class. Classes are open to any adult over age 18. CPR instructors are teaching these classes on a volunteer basis.
“The reason we do this is because we want to maximize the number of people who are trained for CPR and are bystanders who might come across an incident like this,” said Tanner Lindsay, a firefighter/paramedic.
Sign up for the two-day marathon at www.chulavistaca.gov/cpr.
