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Wide variety of community members participate in CPR initiativeThe community-wide initiative to train 5,000 people in CPR by the year 2011 is “community-wide” in a very literal sense: touching lives young and old, at businesses, schools, churches, and civic organizations. As of late July, the total number of people trained was tallied at over 1,800. Partners in the project include the New Ulm Medical Center, American Red Cross and various independent CPR instructors across the area. Deb Hertling, CPR instructor and coordinator for the NUMC leg of the initiative, said the response is overwhelming. Businesses have read about the goal and have invited CPR instructors to train their employees – for example, Hertling trained 37 employees at Citizen’s Bank. Other groups trained in the last few months include the New Ulm Rotary, the New Ulm Medical Center Auxiliary and the New Ulm Library staff. Traci Juhala, acting director at the New Ulm Library, said she felt it was important for all staff to be trained in CPR. “Since all our staff works in a public area, I feel we have a certain responsibility to be prepared for any eventuality,” Juhala said. “I just wanted to make sure that we at least got the training and even if you don’t remember exactly what to do in an emergency situation, if you’ve had the training you will have a basic idea in your mind as to what to do.” Staff at the library all felt grateful to have the training, Juhala said, and they thanked her for bringing it to them. “I thought it was great, too. I’ve had CPR several times in my life, but the more times you take it, the more comfortable you feel with it,” Juhala said. With the new method of CPR – 30 compressions to every two breaths – Juhala said staff reported that it seemed very easy to remember and easier to perform than the old method. Schools and young people have become very active in the CPR training initiative, too, Hertling said. Not only was there formal training through the sixth grade curriculum at Washington Elementary School late last school year, but other youngsters are learning the procedure and sharing it with friends as well. Elementary-age sisters Gracelyn and Maya Sarkar visited the Home Show last March with their father, Gautam, with the specific goal of completing the training there. They each took home a “CPR Anytime Kit” and, between the two of them, trained 23 more people. “The girls are very active in different activities such as soccer, swimming, and gymnastics,” explained Gautam Sarkar. “I wanted them to have a basic understanding of CPR being involved in all these things.” Both girls talked to their teachers at Jefferson Elementary and were allowed to present the information to their classes also. Their father said the girls received a “100 percent positive response” from their classmates about learning the process. “Once they understand it is really a noble thing to learn, that you can actually end up saving a person’s life by knowing this, they were very interested in learning all about it.” As for the girls, they admit it might be difficult to actually perform the procedure on someone if necessary, but they feel they could do it if they had to. “I don’t know if I could do it without breaking a rib,” said Maya. “But, I’d rather break a rib than not try it at all.” In Terri Schuette’s sixth grade class at Washington Elementary, students were encouraged to train others with the CPR Anytime Kits as well. The students outdid themselves and trained a total of 524 people. “The kids were very enthusiastic about it – I had no kids dragging their feet saying ‘why do we have to do this?’” Schuette said. “They got additional practice too as they trained others with the CPR Anytime Kits.” Schuette said she also took a kit home and trained her mother, who is 82. “Because many of the students trained family members, this snowballed just from training a large group of 11 and 12-year-olds to training people of all ages from six to 82,” Schuette said. All community members are encouraged to take part in the CPR initiative. The New Ulm Medical Center has CPR Anytime Kits available as well as a CPR “lending library” with equipment to train large groups of people. To check mannequins out of the Lending Library or to find out about CPR certification classes, call the NUMC Community Events line: 233-1990, option 1. (For business AED/CPR placement and training, select option 4.) There will also be free training available to anyone interested beginning every half hour at the NUMC Auditorium on the third floor Wednesday, August 29 – sessions start at 7 a.m. and the last one begins at 12:30 p.m. No prior registration is required. |
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New Ulm Medical Center
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