RHS Students, Staff Get a Taste of Hands-Only CPR

VERNON, CT — Those at Rockville High School recently took a proactive approach to being prepared for medical emergencies with Hands-Only CPR training.

According to Michael Purcaro, Vernon's director of emergency and risk management, Hands-Only CPR is CPR without mouth-to-mouth breaths. It is recommended for use by people who see a teen or adult suddenly collapse in an “out-of-hospital” setting like at home, at work, at school or in a park).

He said It consists of two easy steps:

• Call 9-1-1 (or send someone to do that).
• Push hard and fast in the center of the chest.

“According to the American Heart Association, over 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the United States each year,"Purcaro said. "When a person has a cardiac arrest, their survival hinges on immediately receiving CPR. Statistically speaking, if CPR is performed immediately, it can double or triple a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival.”

He added, "When you call 911, you need to stay on the phone until the 911 dispatcher (operator) tells you to hang up. The dispatcher will ask you about the emergency. They will also ask for details like your location. It is important to be specific, especially if you’re calling from a mobile phone as that is not associated with a fixed location or address. Remember that answering the dispatcher’s questions will not delay the arrival of help."

About 120 students and a dozen school staff members participated and 18 instructors worked with 22 training mannequins.

“This critical life-saving training will benefit our students, their families, and the greater community for years to come,” RHS principal Andrew Rockett said. Rockett estimated that 20 staffers have full CPR certification.

"The students who took the training can help out if we need them to," he added.

Kathy Call, an EMT/EMS instructor for the Vernon Fire Department and mastermind behind the trainng, said, "The whole point is to bide some time." The average response time in Vernon is five to seven minutes, she said.

"We want to reduce death and dying by education. That's our goal and educating people is our mission," Call said. "If person goes down, there is, initially, oxygen left in blood. And hand-only CPR can help increase circulation by compression and the survival rate then increases."

"The trailing only takes two minutes to learn, which is wonderful," she said. "We can quickly teach people to push down hard and go fast and that can be a regular person in community — as young as 10-years-old."

Photo Credit: Vernon Emergency Management