Goal: 10,000 Trained CPR Lifesavers on August 25, 2012
Picture 10,000 adults learning hands-only CPR in a single day in waves of 1,000 within a gigantic indoor amphitheater. This is the goal of Hands for Life Stamford 2012. We have the support and sponsorship of the City of Stamford, Stamford Hospital, many major corporations and local businesses, organizations, neighborhood groups, and more. Our exciting event can double the survival from cardiac arrest victims in our community. By enabling 10 percent of the adult population to know to Check. Call. Compress -- call 911, check for breathing, and perform chest compressions at 100 beats per minute -- we can save lives. Every minute that treatment is delayed increases the mortality by 10%. Every second counts so everyone needs to be prepared and ready to act!
Hands for Life®, a new health education effort, is embarking on an ambitious, exciting program to help Stamford, CT become a truly heart safe community, embracing the American Heart Association’s challenge to educate a greater percentage of its residents and workforce on how to save lives with CPR.
The goal of Hands for Life® Stamford 2012 is to train 10,000 adults in the greater Stamford area encompassing lower Fairfield County in hands-only CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation) without Mouth to Mouth and the use of AEDs (automated electronic defibrillators), over the course of ten hours. Training each wave will only take 15 minutes from start to finish. All adults over the age of 16 can join in as individuals or on teams.
Hands for Life® Stamford 2012 will break a world record and create a new one. To date, the highest number of individuals trained in CPR involved 7,909 participants organized by the Singapore Heart Foundation on January 2011.
When and Where
The event will take place at the new Chelsea Piers in Stamford on Saturday, August 25, 2012. This complex, located in the east side of the city, will be newly opened. Chelsea Piers Stamford is providing the use of the 100-yard Field House for our event.
Why CPR and AED Training
The statistics are as remarkable as they are alarming:
- Each year 785,000 Americans suffer from a heart attack
- Nearly 300,000 of these victims will suffer sudden cardiac arrest at the time of their heart attack, outside a hospital setting
- Less than one in four receives CPR from a bystander, and only about five percent of cardiac arrest victims survive
Studies show that survival rates fall 10 percent each minute without CPR before emergency medical assistance, often with a fatal outcome. Experts agree that if more people knew how to provide effective, simple-to-apply Hands Only CPR, more victims could be helped instantly, doubling or even tripling their chances of survival. Sadly, most adults feel helpless to act during a cardiac emergency, because they do not know how to administer CPR, do not feel confident in their skills, or are afraid.
Working together communities can raise these odds greatly. Early activation of 911, early CPR and defibrillation significantly improve outcomes. Easy to administer chest compressions during CPR generate a small but critical amount of blood flow to vital organs such as the brain and heart, until circulation is restored by defibrillation or other therapy.
Learning Hands Only CPR and the use of AEDs at our upcoming Hands for Life® Stamford 2012 event will empower members of our community to act when they see someone suffering from sudden cardiac arrest. In addition, by training thousands of participants at this educational event, they will learn to overcome their fears – the most common concern of bystanders who don’t act. They will feel confident in their ability to respond and do so.
INFORMATION COURTESY OF HANDSFORLIFE.ORG
