Hands-Only CPR training event helps create a Nation of Lifesavers
Press release
BATAVIA, NY, Feb. 12, 2025 — When someone’s heart stops pumping, early CPR can save their life[1]. CPR, especially if performed immediately, can double or triple a person’s chance of survival. That is why the American Heart Association, along with Rochester Regional Health, brought cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training to the Batavia community on Wednesday, February 12th.
With the limited number of primary care physicians and the length of time an ambulance can take to arrive in our rural communities, learning Hands-Only CPR is incredibly important. Wednesday’s event focused first on local religious leaders who could bring the information back to their respective congregations to help close gaps in health equity for rural areas. Then, community members joined the free Hands-Only CPR education opportunity. Throughout the afternoon, more than 50 people joined the American Heart Association’s Nation of Lifesavers by learning skills and building confidence and capabilities to respond in the event of a cardiac emergency.
“Supporting the health and safety of our community is at the heart of everything we do at Rochester Regional Health,” said David Simpkins, chief marketing, communications and community relations officer at Rochester Regional Health. “Today’s joint effort to get more people trained in hands-only CPR is one way we are demonstrating what it means that Rochester Regional is ‘here for it.'”
Today, more than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside of hospitals in the United States annually. Nearly three out of four of those cardiac arrests happen in homes. Tragically, 90% of the time, these incidents prove fatal[2]. The American Heart Association, a global force devoted to changing the future in pursuit of healthier lives for all, mobilized its Nation of Lifesavers™ movement in 2023 with a goal to double survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest for everyone, ensuring more people at home, work, school and even online have learned lifesaving CPR skills.
Newly released data, conducted by Decision Analyst on behalf of the American Heart Association, indicates more U.S. adults now say they feel ready to handle and respond to a cardiac arrest[3]. When Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field during Monday Night Football in January of 2023, nearly seven out of every ten U.S. adults said they would not feel confident to act during a cardiac emergency. Based on the available data at the time, and tracking attitudes since, the Association has since seen a reported increase from 33% to 39% in bystander confidence to be able to perform any type of CPR — or 17.7 million more Americans feeling confident to act in the event of a lifesaving emergency.
“Our strategy is working. This increase in confidence to perform CPR is confirmation and represents not only the success in our awareness and education efforts, but more importantly, the additional lives saved when someone with training responds in an emergency,” said Megan Vargulick, executive director of the American Heart Association in the Rochester and Buffalo regions. “Cardiac arrest can affect anyone, regardless of age or health — even the youngest among us are not immune. Be ready when it matters most.”
Hands-Only CPR demonstration participants learned the correct rate and depth of compressions and how to use an automated external defibrillator, or AED. Compression-only CPR, known as Hands-Only CPR, can be equally effective as traditional CPR in the first few minutes of emergency response and is a skill everyone can learn. It is as simple as calling 911 if you see a teen or adult suddenly collapse and then push hard and fast in the center of the chest.
Quick, simple and easy-to-learn, Hands-Only CPR has been shown to be as effective in the first few minutes as conventional CPR for cardiac arrest at home, at work or in public[4].
The Association encourages everyone, regardless of where they live, to take 90 seconds to learn how to save a life now at www.heart.org/HandsOnlyCPR.
Demonstration 2/12/25- Laurie Napoleone/RN,MSN/Community Impact Director/Buffalo
Additional Resources:
- Bystander CPR
- Bystander CPR Infographic
- Hands-Only CPR Resources
- Women and CPR
- Cardiac Arrest vs. Heart Attack
- Learn Hands-Only CPR/use an AED (English, Spanish, Mandarin)