FDNY Foundation Hosts Annual Dinner, Bringing in Record Funds to Support FDNY
May 9, 2017
Mariano Rivera Joins the FDNY and the Hartford for Junior Fire Marshal Day at Bronx School
June 6, 2017
FDNY Foundation Joins FDNY to Mark CPR/AED Awareness Week
The FDNY Foundation joins the FDNY to mark an important week that highlights a critical life-saving skill, and one that the Foundation is proud to help New Yorkers learn.
The American Red Cross designates the first week in June as National CPR/AED Awareness Week. The week serves to spotlight the importance of learning CPR, as well as learning how to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).
The FDNY Foundation – along with NYC Service – funds the FDNY Mobile CPR Training Unit and the Be 911 Compressions-Only CPR Program. The program is taught by certified FDNY EMS personnel and has trained more than 110,000 New Yorkers in compressions-only CPR. Each course offers basic instruction on performing compressions-only CPR, basic instruction on how to use an AED, practice manikin for use during class, as well as take-home instruction for follow-up practice. The course does not offer CPR certification, but can give attendees the skills they need to step in and save a life in the event of an emergency.
“Like so many of the FDNY programs and initiatives we are able to fund thanks to our generous supporters and partners, we know both the FDNY Mobile CPR Training Unit and the Be 911 Compressions-Only CPR Program are saving lives,” said FDNY Foundation Board Chairman Stephen Ruzow. “The goal is to train as many people as possible in basic CPR skills and to educate participants on how to use an AED, and we know when people are given the tools they need to step in when there is an emergency, they can save a life.”
As a part of an expansion of the CPR Program, the Foundation joined the FDNY, NYC Service and the New York City Department of Education to offer the bystander CPR program called “Be 911: Teens Take Heart.” The free program targets high school students and prepares them to act as citizen responders, stepping in to save a life in response to a victim of cardiac arrest.
Some 70 percent of Americans say they feel helpless to act during a cardiac emergency because they don’t know how to administer CPR or they are fearful of hurting the victim.
In New York City, fewer than ten percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims survive; however, effective bystander CPR provided immediately after sudden cardiac arrest can significantly increase a victim’s chance of surviving, but less than one third of all cardiac arrest victims receive bystander CPR. Additionally, in situations where defibrillation is provided within 5 to 7 minutes after sudden cardiac arrest, the survival rate is as high as 49 percent.
As a part of CPR/AED Awareness Week, the FDNY is hosting free CPR classes in every borough. You can sign up here.
“Like so many of the FDNY programs and initiatives we are able to fund thanks to our generous supporters and partners, we know both the FDNY Mobile CPR Training Unit and the Be 911 Compressions-Only CPR Program are saving lives. The goal is to train as many people as possible in basic CPR skills and to educate participants on how to use an AED, and we know when people are given the tools they need to step in when there is an emergency, they can save a life.”
