CPR training coming to city hall, elsewhere

 CPR

Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons by Rama

Kansas City firefighters are going to do more to teach and promote modern CPR, including training city employees.

Fire officials announced the initiative when they reported Tuesday to the mayor and city manager.

The overall survival rate for cardiac arrests in Kansas City is 7 percent, below the 11 percent estimated national average.

But when a witness sees the arrest and starts CPR while waiting for a paramedic, the survival rate goes up to 38 percent.

Studies show that many people are hesitant to do CPR because they believe it still involves breathing into the mouth of a stranger who is clinically dead.

Mayor Sly James looked at the city manager Tuesday and said, “Please, no mouth to mouth, just let me die.”

But studies show that CPR works better when done with just proper chest compressions.

Councilman John Sharp, chair of the public safety committee, said, “It’s a more effective method, people will do it more often and it’s easier to train them to do it.”

He added, “It really is low hanging fruit to save lives.”

Fire officials said they have tried for years to get federal grants to pay for widespread CPR training, but now they are going to do what they can with the resources they have.

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