Learn a Life-saving Skill in 5 Minutes

Employees at the County Operations Center or the North Inland Public Health Center can do something potentially life changing on their breaks or lunch hour Tuesday. And it will only take five minutes.

As part of the annual “Sidewalk CPR” day, County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) Emergency Medical Services staff will be offering hands-only CPR training to County employees from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the 5510 building at the COC and the Public Health Center at 606 East Valley Parkway in Escondido.

Hands-only CPR is cardio pulmonary resuscitation without the mouth-to-mouth breaths and is recommended for use by people who see an adult suddenly collapse. (Traditional CPR is still recommended for all infants and children, drowning victims and adult victims who are already found unconscious and not breathing).

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease. Every year about 785,000 Americans have a first heart attack. Approximately 470,000 people who have already had one or more attacks have another.

The prompt delivery of CPR more than doubles a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival by helping maintain a blood flow to the heart and brain.