FIRE COMMISSIONER NICHOLAS SCOPPETTA JOINS
THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION TO ANNOUNCE NEW FDNY CPR TRAINING
UNIT
New unit established to help teach CPR to students and community members-
introduces American Heart Association Family & Friends CPR Learning program
to students attending the
FDNY High School for Fire and Life Safety in Brooklyn
Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta today announced the
creation of a new unit within the FDNY. The CPR (short for
cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) Training Unit will help the
fire department save more lives through public education.
The unit, the first of its kind for the FDNY will be staffed
with FDNY-EMS instructors and will offer free life-saving
CPR training to schools and various community organizations
beginning as early as May.
Recently we announced that the cardiac arrest survival rate
in New York City has improved by almost 40% over the last
10 years. This is good, but we want to do better, said Fire
Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta. We need the public to get
involved now to learn CPR, together we can save more lives.
Studies have shown that your chances of surviving an out-of-hospital
cardiac arrest increase tremendously if a trained bystander
performs CPR immediately.
The creation of the unit is in response to the PHENYCS study,
which found that over the last 10 years, despite a doubling of
ambulance tours, a reduction in response times by 50% and implementation
of the first-responder defibrillation program, overall cardiac
survival rate in New York City is still only 3.1%.
Although this survival rate represents a 40% improvement from
1991 to 2003, the PHENYCS study concluded that improving cardiac
survival rates requires greater public awareness of how to respond
in a cardiac emergency. Basically, more people need to be trained
to recognize and react to cardiac arrest. CPR can be the difference
between life and death, buying valuable time until the patient
is defibrillated or receives other advanced care.
The event was also an opportunity for the fire department to announce
a partnership with the American Heart Association in a revolutionary
new approach to teaching the basic skills of CPR called the Family
and Friends CPR Learning Program. Each Family and Friends kit
contains everything needed for a self-directed educational experience
that can be completed within 30 minutes. In addition, once a person
learns CPR via the Family and Friends Learning Program, he or
she is charged to share this knowledge and skill with other friends
and family members helping them learn CPR.
Everyone in a single household can learn the lifesaving skills
of CPR with just one kit. This is a critical component of the
program s ince approximately 70 percent of cardiac emergencies
occur in the home, chances are if an individual ever needs to
perform CPR it will be to help save the life of a loved one, family
member or friend.
We welcome this opportunity to work with the FDNY to help
save lives in New York City, said Jane Chesnutt, Chairman
of the American Heart Association's New York City Board of
Directors and Editor-in-Chief of Woman's Day. This unique
partnership emphasizes the American Heart Association's unyielding
commitment to strengthening the chain of survival and recovery
here in New York City and across the United States.
Fifty students from the FDNY High School for Fire and Life
Safety participating in today's demonstration are the first
group to receive the new American Heart Association Family
& Friends CPR Learning Program and kit. Upon completion
of the 22-minute program they will be trained to perform CPR,
allowing them to help strengthen the first link in the chain
of survival in New York City early bystander CPR and helping
us, to help you.
For more information on learning CPR visit www.nyc.gov/fdny/cpr
Contact: Francis X. Gribbon / David Billig (FDNY)
(718) 999-2056
http://www.nyc.gov/fdny
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