City Hall Employees in Conn. Taught CPR
May 22--NEW HAVEN -- People passing through City Hall Wednesday morning got a chance to learn how they potentially could save a life.
Personnel from American Medical Response and the Fire Department taught about 150 City Hall employees and passers-by a crash course in compression-only CPR.
Laymen now are taught compression-only CPR, said Russ Pierson, operations supervisor for AMR. The basic rule is to do rapid-pace push motions on the middle of a person's sternum near the heart.
"The goal is to get the remaining oxygenated blood out into the body," Pierson said.
People should do that as long as they can or until EMS personnel arrive, he said.
Dummies at the event made a clicking sound when the user compressed the correct spot.
New Haven has had two CPR saves in the past week, said Assistant Fire Chief Ralph Black. One of them was at a Yale University commencement event when a doctor began CPR.
Mayor Toni Harp was among the participants at City Hall.
Many city buildings in New Haven contain automatic defibrillators, Pierson said. The units come with simple instructions and automatically detect whether a shock is needed.
AMR also held events in West Hartford, East Haven and a number of other communities throughout the state as part of EMS Week. AMR traditionally has held events on the Wednesday of EMS Week, Pierson said.
The goal was to teach several thousand people across the state the basics of compression-only CPR.
There is an AMR community cookout scheduled for Friday at 58 Middletown Ave. from 7:30 a.m. until food runs out in the evening.
Call Rich Scinto at 203-789-5748. Have questions, feedback or ideas about our news coverage? Connect directly with the editors of the New Haven Register at AskTheRegister.com.
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