The Bowie Volunteer Fire Department will be holding a Heartsaver CPR/AED course on Tuesday, November 17th and Thursday, November 19th in the training hall at Company 43 on Pointer Ridge Drive. To register for the class, please call 301-390-8255. Be sure to leave your name and phone number so we can contact you. There is a nominal fee for this course of $4.00 to cover administrative costs, which is payable on the date of class.
Beginning in January 2010, classes will be offered monthly on the following Saturdays from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. at Company 43:
- January 16 – HEALTHCARE PROVIDER
- February 13 – HEARTSAVER CPR/AED
- March 24 – HEALTHCARE PROVIDER Renewal
- April 17 – HC Renewal
- May 15 – HEALTHCARE PROVIDER
- June 19 – HEARTSAVER CPR/AED
- July 17 – HEARTSAVER CPR
- August 21 – HEALTHCARE PROVIDER Renewal
- September 18 – HEALTHCARE PROVIDER
- October 16 – HEARTSAVER CPR/AED
- November 13 – HEARTSAVER CPR/AED
- No CPR lass is currently scheduled for December, 2010
CPR facts and statistics1
- About 80 percent of all out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in private residential settings, so being trained to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can mean the difference between life and death for a loved one.
- Effective bystander CPR, provided immediately after cardiac arrest, can double a victim’s chance of survival.
- CPR helps maintain vital blood flow to the heart and brain and increases the amount of time that an electric shock from a defibrillator can be effective.
- Approximately 95 percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims die before reaching the hospital.
- Death from sudden cardiac arrest is not inevitable. If more people knew CPR, more lives could be saved.
- Brain death starts to occur four to six minutes after someone experiences cardiac arrest if no CPR and defibrillation occurs during that time.
- If bystander CPR is not provided, a sudden cardiac arrest victim’s chances of survival fall 7 percent to 10 percent for every minute of delay until defibrillation. Few attempts at resuscitation are successful if CPR and defibrillation are not provided within minutes of collapse.
- Coronary heart disease accounts for about 446,000 of the over 864,000 adults who die each year as a result of cardiovascular disease.
- There are 294,851 emergency medical services-treated out-of-hospital cardiac arrests annually in the United States.
- There are about 138,000 coronary heart disease deaths within one hour of symptom onset each year in the United States.
- Sudden cardiac arrest is most often caused by an abnormal heart rhythm called ventricular fibrillation (VF). Cardiac arrest can also occur after the onset of a heart attack or as a result of electrocution or near-drowning.
- When sudden cardiac arrest occurs, the victim collapses, becomes unresponsive to gentle shaking, stops normal breathing and after two rescue breaths, still isn’t breathing normally, coughing or moving.
1Facts and Statistics provided by the American Heart Association
