PARRY SOUND - The more people who know CPR, the more lives can be saved.
That’s the message Sharon Montgomery-Greenwood, director of emergency services for the Town of Parry Sound, wants everyone to know.
Next weekend, the Parry Sound EMS, Muskoka EMS and the Parry Sound Fire Department are hosing a free Level ‘A’ CPR course for the public.
During the three-and-a-half-hour course, people will learn how to do CPR during a variety of emergencies including cardiac events, accidents, near-drowning, suffocation, poisoning, smoke inhalation, electrocution and suspected Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
“Last time (we held a free CPR course) we got husbands and wives that came together, which was really terrific and some of them, who are on islands, they only have each other until we could get a boat and go get them,” said Montgomery-Greenwood. “It’s very, very important. The save rate for a witnessed (cardiac) arrest and someone doing CPR right away is increased. It’s so very, very important that people are trained.”
Montgomery-Greenwood added that those who have received training 10 years ago, definitely need to re-take the course, because of a number of changes in the program.
“We’ve made it so much easier. There’s no ventilation if you don’t want to. Everybody was worried about that...people were hesitant to step forward. So now, for the public, what they’ve done is, they’ve stopped with the ventilation and moved forward with the faster compressions and ensuring you call for help right away,” she said.
The training also include defibrillator training; they go hand in hand, Montgomery-Greenwood said.
“(Defibrillators) have become so safe. These aren’t the defibrillators that the paramedics use or the hospital uses,” she said. “These are something that are designed to do one thing and one thing only and you can’t screw it up. They’ve just fine-tuned them so well that anybody can use them anyplace, anytime.”
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Registration starts at 8 a.m. on Saturday, June 2, at the Bobby Orr Community Centre with the training running from 8:30 to noon. Certificates will be issued following course completion.
To pre-register email: cpr@townofparrysound.on.ca or call Sheri at 705-746-2262.