June 1-7 is CPR and AED Awareness Week.
The city of San Diego's Project Heart Beat held a free workshop in the Civic Center’s breezeway Tuesday to train people how to do CPR and use an automated external defibrillator, or AED.
The organization wants to make AEDs as accessible as fire extinguishers. They’ve helped place more than 11,000 in the San Diego region since 2001, saving 223 lives so far.
“Which may not seem like a lot. But if it’s your loved one, it’s huge,” said program manager Maureen O’Connor.
O’Connor said anyone can learn how to save a life in five minutes with CPR or an AED. You don’t need to be certified to do it. You just need to be willing to intervene.
“Any CPR is better than no CPR, so you just do the best that you can. I've taught people with difficulties, disabilities, how to do CPR in different ways. We've taught the blind. We've taught the handicapped that don't have use of their upper body, but can do some cardiac compressions through their legs in the heel of their foot. Anything is better than nothing to keep that heart beating,” she said.
But too often, bystanders don’t jump in.
If the person needing help is a woman, they’re even less likely to get it.
“Only 39% of women in public – so less than half – receive CPR because the public are afraid to bare the person's chest and put their hands on the person's chest. But if they don't do that, they may as well just stand there and watch that person die,” O’Connor said.
Standard training mannequins are male, not offering participants a chance to practice overcoming those hesitations.
Studies show minority and low-income patients are also less likely to receive bystander CPR or defibrillation, partly due to less training and fewer available AEDs in their neighborhoods.
Members of the public request CPR training in their community and training kits through UC San Diego’s Revive and Survive initiative.
Project Heart Beat will host its next free workshop on June 16 at the Point Loma Hervey Branch Library.
