MAY 29, 2013
Southwest Ambulance celebrates EMS Week with 500th individual CPR-trained
Southwest Ambulance and Rural/Metro employees in a group, hands-only CPR training session.
Courtesy photo
MESA – Emergency Medical Services week celebrates the hard work and dedication these professionals provide our community every day. During the 2013 EMS week, however, Southwest Ambulance also celebrated a milestone; surpassing their goal of 500 community members trained in CPR over the last 12 months.
“With each new person we train in CPR or hands-only CPR, we are saving lives,” said Southwest Ambulance Division General Manager Edward Podol. “Anyone can learn this and can save the life of a friend, family member or even a total stranger. The more people we educate, the safer our entire community becomes.”
Southwest Ambulance holds CPR or hands-only CPR trainings in partnership with community organizations, including Boys and Girls Clubs throughout the metro Phoenix area and East Valley Assisted Living. Students are pre-teens to senior citizens and everything in-between.
"We can’t thank Rural/Metro and Southwest Ambulance enough for providing CPR and First Aide for our staff members,” said EJ Hughes, Director of Club Services at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale. “It helps keep the members we serve, over 17,000, safe throughout the busy summer months."
An American Heart Association report shows that 70 percent of Americans feel helpless to act during a cardiac emergency because they either do not know how to administer CPR or their training has significantly lapsed. With 88 percent of cardiac arrests happening at home, knowing CPR can dramatically reduce the number of deaths from cardiac arrest. Chances are a cardiac arrest will not happen in a hospital or doctor’s office, it will happen at home with the people you are with the most.
Southwest Ambulance has a long tradition of community education as part of their commitment to clinical excellence and community service. Adding 500 more community members ready and willing to give life-saving CPR if the need arises is all the motivation Southwest Ambulance needs to keep up the momentum.
“Being part of educating our community is an amazing opportunity,” said Southwest Ambulance Director of Training Paul Honeywell. “When we see those children feel confident in giving hands-only CPR it is this huge sense of pride in what we are doing. They will know this, tell their families about it and maybe use it to save a life, and we love being able to do that.”
