Free Community CPR Training May 14

Save A Life, Save A Heart (SALSAH) has teamed up with Cambridge Fire & Police Departments, Professional Ambulance, and emergency medical personnel from MIT and Harvard University to provide a Community CPR Training Saturday, 11:30 a.m-1:30 p.m. at Brattle Plaza in Cambridge.

The event aims to raise awareness about the importance of learning this skill since according to the American Heart Association, those who die from heart attacks often do so because they don't receive immediate CPR from someone on the scene. CPR is easy to learn with the new hands-only protocols, which emphasize maintaining a cardiac rhythm and quickly getting professional help. 

SALSAH (www.salsahcpr.org) is a grassroots public health education initiative created by Shivangi Goel, a junior at MIT who has been a certified EMT since the age of 16. SALSAH provides free training in CPR and Basic Life Support Skills, such as Airway Management, to high school and college students, communities, and local organizations. Since enrolling at MIT, Goel has taken SALSAH nationwide and has established branches at MIT, Stanford, Washington University (MO), and other universities.  Goel also has plans to expand overseas. This summer, she is going to Mexico for five weeks to teach CPR to college students, and then will continue her education outreach in Singapore and China. 

“I founded SALSAH after discovering that most states in the U.S. do not teach CPR and other life-saving techniques in public schools,” said Goel. “Effective bystander CPR can increase survival of heart attack patient by three times. By increasing public education in hands-only CPR and other life-saving techniques, we can give people the tools needed to play an active role in the health and safety of their community.”

The timing of this event also coincides with Stroke Awareness month, an effort by the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association during the month of May to support and promote education about stroke symptoms and care. SALSAH is hoping its community initiatives will help to make it easier for individuals to assess these types of emergent health situations. In addition to CPR, people can also consider learning how to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), compression techniques, and how to get involved in early cardiac arrest intervention.

“We are excited to work with SALSAH and all of the public agencies in the City of Cambridge to bring this education to as many people as possible,” said Danielle Rabickow, Director of Community Initiatives for Pro EMS. “It’s important that we’re able to go out into the community to help increase and improve survival of sudden cardiac arrest.”

For more information about the community education and training offered by Professional Ambulance Service (Pro EMS) and the Center for MEDICS, please visit www.proems.com.