As part of National CPR and AED Awareness Week (June 1-7), the Burbank Fire Department will be asking bystanders if they know what to do in an emergency. Community members visiting Burbank Town Center will be taught how to respond to sudden cardiac arrest as well as how to do effective, “hands-only” cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
The Burbank Fire Department and Providence St. Joseph Medical Center will be supporting the American Heart Association and LA County EMS Agency’s drive for educating the community in the skill of CPR on “Sidewalk CPR Day”. The event will take place in front of the Burbank Town Center at 201 E. Magnolia Blvd., on Thursday June 7th from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon. The Burbank Fire Department will have mannequins and firefighters to teach citizens how to properly perform CPR using only their hands in case of an emergency. The CPR training is not an official certification course, but is instead an awareness course.
More than 300,000 people will die from coronary heart disease this year before reaching the hospital. Victims that receive immediate CPR and a shock from an AED (Automated External Defibrilation) within three to five minutes have a 48 to 74 percent chance of survival. Currently, less than 8 percent of victims survive due to lack of CPR and AED use across the country.
“The more people we have in our community that know how to recognize an emergency and do CPR, the more lives we can save,” said Burbank Fire Captain Peter Hendrickson. “With 80 percent of sudden cardiac arrests occurring at the home, it is crucial that more people are prepared to respond. CPR is one way we will be able to increase the chances of survival for victims in our community”
For more information on “Sidewalk CPR Day” please call 818.238.FIRE.
