Mayor Frank Ferry and several public officials from the Los Angeles County Fire Department and American Heart Association visited the Santa Clarita Aquatics Center on Wednesday to announce the City of Santa Clarita’s participation Wednesday in a new public health program that teaches a hands-only approach to cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Family & Friends CPR Anytime is a new program that makes it easy for anyone, anywhere to learn CPR. The program consists of a do-it-yourself kit that teaches users the core CPR skills needed to save a life in approximately 20 minutes. The latest science of CPR training was incorporated into Family & Friends CPR Anytime which utilizes a “hands only” technique of CPR.

People are often reluctant to perform any kind of CPR if they haven’t received formal training. Family & Friends CPR. Anytime was designed to teach life saving techniques which can be learned in a short amount of time and can be taught to anyone.

The City of Santa Clarita is the first city in Los Angeles County to partner with Los Angeles Country Fire and the American Heart Association to introduce Family & Friends CPR Anytime to the community.

CPR3Starting Wednesday morning, after a brief ceremony conducted by officials from the city, the American Heart Association and the L.A. County Fire Department, more than 100 of the city’s Junior Lifeguard participants received the training.

Aside from being trained themselves, each of the junior lifeguards also received a training kit that they pledged to use to train at least 10 of their family members and friends. Upon training their quota of people on the program, each of them will receive a certificate commemorating the achievement.

The need for Family & Friends CPR Anytime relates to some staggering statistics.

CPR5According to the American Heart Association, over 325,000 Americans suffer fatal cardiac arrests before reaching a hospital. Eighty percent of cardiac arrests occur at home in front of a family member. The current survival rate for a victim is just over six percent. Hands only CPR, as taught in the 20 minute Family & Friends CPR Anytime program, can increase the victim’s chance of survival three to four times when combined with other practices such as calling 911, according to L.A. County Fire Medical Director Dr. Franklin Pratt.

For information about the Family & Friends CPR Anytime program and how you can get trained, call 661-286-4167.