West Orange Firefighters Teach Local Girl, Boy Scouts CPR

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The next time someone saves a life with CPR in West Orange, it might be a local Girl or Boy Scout thanks to a recent training course from the West Orange Fire Department.

The WOFD held a “CPR Certification Course” for West Orange Girl Scout Troop 20207 and Boy Scout Troop 2 on Saturday at the municipal Emergency Operation Center. The course used curriculum from the American Heart Association (AHA) to teach its participants valuable life-saving skills.

The program was held as a supplement to the quarterly CPR Certification Courses the department currently provides for township residents, according to town officials.

“Offering this program to our township youth helps to foster both positive community engagement and proactive civic responsibility” said Deputy Fire Chief Daniel Shelley, the program’s supervisor. “Learning this new skill set will prove to be valuable to the scouts and the community at large.”

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According to a news release from West Orange town officials:

“Cardiac arrest is an electrical malfunction in the heart that causes an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) and disrupts the flow of blood to the brain, lungs and other organs and is a leading cause of death. According to AHA, each year, more than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the United States. When a person has a cardiac arrest, survival depends on immediately getting CPR from someone nearby. Almost 90 percent of people who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests die. CPR, especially if performed in the first few minutes of cardiac arrest, can double or triple a person’s chance of survival. While West Orange is fortunate to have rapid Fire/EMS response, every minute counts in the chain of survival and the benefit of early resident intervention cannot be overstated.”

West Orange officials continued:

“If you are called on to give CPR in an emergency, you will most likely be trying to save the life of someone you love: a child, a spouse, a parent or a friend. 70 percent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen in homes. Unfortunately, only about 46% of people who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest get the immediate help that they need before professional help arrives.”

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Photo: West Orange Fire Department