FDNY releases new PSA for CPR/AED Awareness Week 2025

June 5, 2025

On Nov. 29, 2023, Michael Gordon returned home from work and was on his phone as he prepared for bed. Suddenly, he fell off the bed and stopped breathing.

His wife, Natasha, directed their children to call 911 while she immediately began CPR—a skill she had learned nine years prior. She continued to perform CPR on her husband until FDNY firefighters and paramedics arrived at their home to continue care and eventually transport him to a hospital.

Michael Gordon is alive today thanks to his family’s immediate intervention.

National CPR and AED Awareness Week in 2025 is June 1-7.

The FDNY, with help from the FDNY Foundation and other partners, offers free, hands-only CPR classes with the goal of equipping New Yorkers with the basic skills to act in the event of a cardiac arrest emergency.

Early CPR and the use of an AED have shown to dramatically increase the chance of survival in victims who experience sudden cardiac arrest, much like with the Gordons. They were featured at the FDNY's 29th Second Chance Ceremony in May and were reunited with the FDNY members who helped to save Michael Gordon's life.

FDNY's CPR classes are taught by certified and highly trained EMS members. Since the classes began in 2006, the FDNY Mobile CPR Unit has trained thousands of New Yorkers in hands-only CPR.

Learn more and sign up for a class at this link.