Mount Prospect Fire Department Receives CPR Grant

To coincide with February's designation as National Heart Month, the Mount Prospect Fire Department is proud to announce that it has recently been awarded a Community Action Grant from Illinois Heart Rescue to assist with CPR training efforts.

Illinois Heart Rescue Project aims to improve how Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is recognized, treated and measured in the United States. The Community Action Grant program was developed to provide financial assistance in the form of CPR training materials to non-profit, government agencies or community organizations within the state of Illinois to develop community level interventions aimed at awareness and education related to SCA, Bystander Compression Only (or Hands-Only) CPR and AED use.

As part of the grant, the Fire Department received 3 CPR and AED training kits. Each kit contains 8 Prestan Ultra Light Mannequins, 1 AED trainer, educational materials and DVD training videos.

"Most people who experience cardiac arrest at home, work or in a public location die because they don't receive immediate CPR from someone on the scene," said Mount Prospect Fire Chief Brian Lambel. "Chest compressions push oxygen-rich blood through the body to keep vital organs alive. Hands-Only CPR buys time until paramedics arrive," Lambel stated.

The Fire Department plans to utilize the kits to teach Hands-Only CPR in junior high and middle school grades, churches and local businesses. In addition, Spanish-language training will be offered at the Community Connections Center (1711 W. Algonquin Road, Mount Prospect). This ongoing project will continue through 2018 to satisfy the grant requirements. The Department will continue the training as part of its public education efforts moving forward.

Hands-Only CPR has been documented to dramatically improve survival rates for victims of "out of hospital" cardiac arrest. According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, for every minute that a victim of SCA does not receive CPR, their chance of death increases by 10%. That means if no CPR is performed within 10 minutes, the victim has a 0% chance of living. The sooner that CPR is started the more likely the victim will survive AND return to their life with full mental functioning.

"We recognize that CPR can mean the difference between life and death," Chief Lambel said. "The more people we can train, the more people we can save."

For more information about Hands-Only CPR and other Fire and Life Safety Education programs, contact the Fire Prevention Bureau at 847/818-5253 or go to www.mountprospect.org.