Richmond Awarded Hands-Only™ CPR Training Kit Grant by The American Heart Association and Cities of Service
~ City to receive 500 CPR Anytime kits to implement the Cities of Service
Volunteer CPR Blueprint to improve cardiac arrest survival rates ~
The City of Richmond is one of five cities that have been chosen by the American Heart Association and Cities of Service, a bi-partisan coalition of more than 180 mayors committed to using citizen service to address pressing local needs, to receive 500 CPR Anytime Kits (or Hands-Only™ CPR training kits) to help turn more residents into lifesavers. Last year’s grant recipients trained nearly 17,000 people in lifesaving Hands-Only CPR skills with the kits they received.
The City of Richmond, by way of its Neighbor-to-Neighbor (N2N) Initiative, is partnering with the Richmond Ambulance Authority, the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, and the American Heart Association with the goal of training 250 low-income public housing residents and 250 low-income Latino residents with the grant – thus equipping 500 residents with this life-saving training. Each of the 500 trained volunteers will train a minimum of five additional people (2,500 people) in Hands-Only CPR for a total of 3,000 people trained. The outcome will be that these trained volunteers will act as first responders in cardiac arrest emergencies.
“I am excited about the power of this initiative and the impact this program will make in saving lives in the City of Richmond,” said Mayor Dwight C. Jones. “The current rate of bystander-initiated CPR is 50% less likely in Richmond’s low-income neighborhoods than in high-income neighborhoods. This grant increases the opportunity for us to work with our collaborative partners in an effort to raise this number to a standard equal to or better than the healthiest cities in the world.”
This year’s training kit grant winners also include the cities of Duluth, MN, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Phoenix, AZ, and Rock Hill, SC. The grants will support the implementation of the Cities of Service Volunteer CPR Blueprint, a high-impact service strategy in which each city’s mayor’s office partners with local medical professionals and emergency responders to train volunteers to use the lifesaving Hands-Only CPR technique. The Blueprint calls for the volunteers, who are trained by professionals, to teach CPR to at least five other residents, vastly improving a community’s ability to respond to sudden cardiac emergencies.
The Volunteer CPR Blueprint is one of 11 customizable Blueprints from Cities of Service. These Blueprints are a set of step-by-step, how-to guides for cities and mayors to leverage volunteer service to move the needle against pressing local challenges.
Nearly 400,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur annually in the United States, and 89 percent of victims die because they don’t receive immediate CPR from someone on the scene. Hands-Only CPR is a quick, easy way to save more lives. If you see a teen or adult suddenly collapse, (1) Call 9-1-1; and (2) Push hard and fast in the center of the chest. Doing these compressions at the proper beat can more than double a person’s chances of survival; coincidentally, the proper beat matches the classic Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive.”
Cities interested in the grant program or joining the Cities of Service coalition can email info@citiesofservice.org to learn how to get involved.
For more information about Cities of Service, visit www.citiesofservice.org and to learn more about Hands-Only CPR, visit www.heart.org/handsonlycpr.
About the American Heart Association
The American Heart Association (AHA) is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke – America’s No. 1 and No. 4 killers. AHA teams with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, visit www.heart.org or call any of our offices around the country. Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AmericanHeart and Twitter at https://twitter.com/American_Heart.
About Cities of Service
Founded in September 2009 by former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and 16 other mayors from across the nation, Cities of Service is a bipartisan coalition of mayors committed to addressing critical city needs through impact volunteering. American cities face serious challenges and many mayors want to take advantage of every resource available to them – including the time and energy of public-spirited residents – to address those challenges. But in cities across America today, citizen service is often an underutilized or inefficiently utilized strategy by municipal governments. By leveraging citizen service strategies, Cities of Service helps mayors address local needs and make government more effective. To learn more, visit www.citiesofservice.org or follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CitiesOfService.
Volunteer CPR Blueprint to improve cardiac arrest survival rates ~
The City of Richmond is one of five cities that have been chosen by the American Heart Association and Cities of Service, a bi-partisan coalition of more than 180 mayors committed to using citizen service to address pressing local needs, to receive 500 CPR Anytime Kits (or Hands-Only™ CPR training kits) to help turn more residents into lifesavers. Last year’s grant recipients trained nearly 17,000 people in lifesaving Hands-Only CPR skills with the kits they received.
The City of Richmond, by way of its Neighbor-to-Neighbor (N2N) Initiative, is partnering with the Richmond Ambulance Authority, the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, and the American Heart Association with the goal of training 250 low-income public housing residents and 250 low-income Latino residents with the grant – thus equipping 500 residents with this life-saving training. Each of the 500 trained volunteers will train a minimum of five additional people (2,500 people) in Hands-Only CPR for a total of 3,000 people trained. The outcome will be that these trained volunteers will act as first responders in cardiac arrest emergencies.
“I am excited about the power of this initiative and the impact this program will make in saving lives in the City of Richmond,” said Mayor Dwight C. Jones. “The current rate of bystander-initiated CPR is 50% less likely in Richmond’s low-income neighborhoods than in high-income neighborhoods. This grant increases the opportunity for us to work with our collaborative partners in an effort to raise this number to a standard equal to or better than the healthiest cities in the world.”
This year’s training kit grant winners also include the cities of Duluth, MN, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Phoenix, AZ, and Rock Hill, SC. The grants will support the implementation of the Cities of Service Volunteer CPR Blueprint, a high-impact service strategy in which each city’s mayor’s office partners with local medical professionals and emergency responders to train volunteers to use the lifesaving Hands-Only CPR technique. The Blueprint calls for the volunteers, who are trained by professionals, to teach CPR to at least five other residents, vastly improving a community’s ability to respond to sudden cardiac emergencies.
The Volunteer CPR Blueprint is one of 11 customizable Blueprints from Cities of Service. These Blueprints
Nearly 400,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur annually in the United States, and 89 percent of victims die because they don’t receive immediate CPR from someone on the scene. Hands-Only CPR is a quick, easy way to save more lives. If you see a teen or adult suddenly collapse, (1) Call 9-1-1; and (2) Push hard and fast in the center of the chest. Doing these compressions at the proper beat can more than double a person’s chances of survival; coincidentally, the proper beat matches the classic Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive.”
Cities interested in the grant program or joining the Cities of Service coalition can email info@citiesofservice.org to learn how to get involved.
For more information about Cities of Service, visit www.citiesofservice.org and to learn more about Hands-Only CPR, visit www.heart.org/handsonlycpr.
About the American Heart Association
The American Heart Association (AHA) is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke – America’s No. 1 and No. 4 killers. AHA teams with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, visit www.heart.org
About Cities of Service
Founded in September 2009 by former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and 16 other mayors from across the nation, Cities of Service is a bipartisan coalition of mayors committed to addressing critical city needs through impact volunteering. American cities face serious challenges and many mayors want to take advantage of every resource available to them – including the time and energy of public-spirited residents – to address those challenges. But in cities across America today, citizen service is often an underutilized or inefficiently utilized strategy by municipal governments. By leveraging citizen service strategies, Cities of Service helps mayors address local needs and make government more effective. To learn more, visit www.citiesofservice.org or follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CitiesOfService.