Thanks to the work of the American Heart Association, this week has been named CPR Awareness Week? So, what’s the purpose of highlighting CPR this week? Plenty!
The American Heart Association is using this week to highlight the importance of knowing and learning CPR, but also teaching people how to use an automatic external defibrillator. According to Cindy Bourma of the AHA’s Midwestern Conference, the AHA is making an effort to educate people as to how easy CPR is to perform and just how important it can be for someone in cardiac distress.
“There have been some changes approved by the American Heart Association in the last year and a half,” Bouma said. “We’ve really gone to a new form of CPR for a lay person where we do hands only CPR. So, CPR has gotten less complex, and it’s taken away a little bit of the yuck factor that has turned some people off.”
In their effort to teach people about automatic external defibrillators (or AEDs), the AHA has started a “Selfies Save Lives” campaign encouraging members of the community to take a selfie in front of an AED and make an effort to learn something about how to operate one.
Kudos to the AHA for encouraging more people to become educated about CPR and how to use an AED. For more information on how to become CPR certified, call us or explore our website for more information!