The American Heart Association is joining with the Ad Council for a national multimedia campaign in an effort to increase awareness of and confidence in giving Hands-Only CPR. The goal of the campaign is to introduce Hands-Only CPR, a simplified method of CPR that requires no mouth-to-mouth breathing, and to educate and encourage bystanders to take action when they see an adult suddenly collapse.

WPFD encourages you to visit to www.handsonlycpr.org to learn the incredible things that people can do with their hands. You will learn that you can be empowered to perform Hands-Only CPR to help save a life.You’ll learn that Hands-Only CPR is a two-step technique that involves calling 911 and pushing hard and fast in the center of the chest until help arrives. It is that simple.

Each year in the U.S., nearly 300,000 people who suffer cardiac arrest at homes, at work or in public locations receive treatment (CPR) from EMS providers like West Pulaski Fire Department. If you can provide CPR to an adult who has collapsed from sudden cardiac arrest before we can arrive, you can more than double that person’s chance of survival. Studies of real emergencies that have occurred in homes, at work or in public locations, show that Hands-Only CPR, can be as effective as conventional CPR. Without immediate, effective CPR from a bystander, a person’s chance of surviving sudden cardiac arrest decreases 7 percent to 10 percent per minute.