Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States, with about 47 percent of sudden cardiac deaths occurring outside a hospital, according studies done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
With statistics such as that in mind, Mt. Laurel Emergency Medical Services has launched its new Safest Community Initiative through which it has begun to train members of the community in the administration of CPR, at no cost to the trainees.
According to MLEMS Chief Joseph Stringfellow, of those who suffer sudden cardiac arrest and are treated only by EMS workers, only about 10 percent survive.
However, Stringfellow said for those who suffer SCA and have bystanders provide CPR or use an automated external defibrillator before the arrival of EMS, survival rates have been shown to increase to around 40 percent.
“It’s just a very important topic to get more people to start CPR training,” Stringfellow said.
In one local example, Stringfellow noted the benefits of having CPR training paid off for Mt. Laurel resident Pete Gluszek and his family during the July 4 holiday last year.
Stringfellow recalls that while the family was celebrating, Gluszek heard his son yell from the pool that his Gluszek’s father was in trouble. Gluszek pulled his father from the pool, and while a family member called for emergency services, Gluszek was able to immediately begin administering CPR.
Stringfellow said MLEMS, fire crews and Virtua paramedics were able to respond within minutes, and combined with Gluszek’s quick actions, his father survived and was released from the hospital a week later.
“Realistically speaking, had it not been for Pete starting CPR, it’s highly likely that the outcome would not be the same,” Stringfellow said. “It makes a huge difference.”
On Dec. 18, MLEMS held the first class in the Safest Community Initiative, during which it was able to train about a dozen community members in Friends and Family CPR.
Stringfellow said Friends and Family CPR classes last about 90 minutes while attendees learn adult hands-only CPR, child CPR with breaths, adult and child AED use, infant CPR and instruction on relieving the airway in an adult, child or infant.
Attendees are able to practice on dummies while watching instructors, which provides the most hands-on CPR practice time as possible.
The class is designed for community members such students, new parents, grandparents, babysitters and others who wish to learn to learn CPR, but don’t need a course completion card in CPR for job requirements.
Stringfellow said the inaugural class went well, and attendees learned why it’s important for as many people to know CPR as possible, as after just a few minutes of compression, even the physically fit can become exhausted.
“If you have two or three people around to help, it relieves the pressure,” Stringfellow said.
MLEMS is also holding a Heartsaver CPR classes.
The Heartsaver CPR class is a video-based, instructor-led course that teaches adult CPR and AED use, as well as how to relieve choking on an adult, where attendees while also practice while watching.
Unlike the Friends and Family CPR class, upon completion of this class, attendees will receive a course completion card in CPR and AED use to meet job or other requirements.
Those looking for more information about MLEMS Safest Community Initiative training dates and locations can visit mlems.org or visit the MLEMS Facebook page.
MLEMS is currently working on scheduling more classes and will post them on its website and Facebook page once they are open to registration.
According to Stringfellow, once the training classes are more established, his goal is to eventually begin training 100 members of the community each week.
“We want to train as many people in CPR as we can at no cost to them,” Stringfellow said.
