Community Medical Center and American Heart Association Team Up To Teach Students CPR

Not many people know that the number one leading cause of death in men and women is Heart Disease. So today, the American Heart Association (AHA) and San Angelo Community Medical Center (SACMC) announced their partnership to bring the knowledge of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to the Tom Green County’s School Districts. 

At 2 p.m., a press conference was held at the San Angelo Independent School District offices, which provided a look into the future plans of building the next generation of lifesavers through Hands-Only CPR.

Dee Baker Amos is the Vice President of Community Health and Stroke American Heart Association, and she opened the conference by explaining that her job is one where she gets to save lives.

“What we are focusing on is making sure that people understand how important it is to be able to provide life-saving assistance before a medical expert gets to you,” said Amos. “And so what we are pleased to announce [that] the San Angelo Community Medical Center is now the American Heart Association’s local Healthy Living Platform Sponsor.”

SACMC CEO Jeremy Riney said, “San Angelo Community Medical Center is proud to join forces with the American Heart Association to build a healthier and happier San Angelo, and it is my pleasure to share that it is part of Community sponsorship. Twelve CPR and School Training Kits will be gifted throughout six school districts of San Angelo, Christoval, Water Valley, Wall, Grape Creek and Veribest.”

The point of the partnership is to raise the bystander rate in San Angelo because, as of now, San Angelo’s bystander rate is about 10 percent. SACMC’s three-year commitment to the AHA will place a total of 12 CPR Training Kits in schools throughout Tom Green County, which will impact an estimated 3,500 students. Plans are also underway for several mass Hands-Only CPR community training classes to be announced later this year.

“We believe in preparing the students to lead a happy and healthy life, and that’s why we think it’s important to give students the skills they need to help save someone’s life with CPR,” said Dr. Michael Blanc, Interventional Cardiologist for San Angelo Community Medical Center. “Teaching students CPR before they graduate puts qualified lifesavers in our community year after year, ensuring the next generation of Concho Valley lifesavers.”

While it’s vital to arm the public with the knowledge to act in an emergency, preventing cardiac arrest and other heart and stroke related illnesses before an incident takes place can have an even greater health impact.

Students learning bystander CPR may be the answer to reducing deaths from more than 326,000 cardiac arrests that occur outside of a hospital each year. Sadly, most of the victims die, often because bystanders don’t know how to preform CPR, or they are afraid of doing something wrong.

“Its always better to do something than to do nothing,” said the Mayor of San Angelo, Dwain Morrison.

Amos added, “So while educating our students and communities on how to preform this lifesaving skill, we want to reduce the chances of cardiac arrest, heart attack and stroke before they happen. That’s why the AHA and Community are not only teaming up to educate San Angelo on how to preform CPR, but we are also joining forces to stress the importance of healthy living lifestyle choices, because these are choices that can reduce up to 80 percent of heart disease and stroke.”

Teaching students in school how to administer CPR helps increase the chance a victim of cardiac arrest has by providing the help they need until paramedics arrive, and it can ultimately improve San Angelo’s bystander rate. Many people know stories or have family who have had an experience with heart problems, and it is good to know the steps to take to help save lives.

Amos wrapped up the conference by saying, “We often times look at super heroes on TV, but the reality is, we all have our capes somewhere, and it is about us having enough courage to whip them out and help someone who needs it.”