SLCFD to participate in CPR Blitz

The Salt Lake City Fire Department, Gold Cross Ambulance and Salt Lake Regional Medical Center will team up to teach multiple, 10-minute CPR courses to event-goers at next week’s Utah Arts Festival. The multiple courses, known as a CPR Blitz, will actually kick off on Wednesday, June 20, as Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker and members of the City Council experience the “blitz” for themselves.

A “CPR Blitz” is a quick and easy, 10-minute CPR training session taught by medical professionals to as many people as possible in a certain amount of time. Wednesday’s session with the city officials will show that basic CPR skills can be quickly learned and easily used. SLCFD paramedics, emergency medical technicians and representatives from Salt Lake Regional Medical Center will be conducting this same course several times during the Utah Arts Festival for anyone wishing to learn CPR.

Mayor Becker and the Council Members will attend the first CPR Blitz, to be held at 2 p.m. on June 20 at Salt Lake Regional Medical Center. The Utah Arts Festival will be June 21-24 at the Library Square in downtown Salt Lake City.

Members of the media are invited to the event with the city officials. The event will be held in the board room on the ground floor of the hospital. Refreshments will be served.

According to the American Heart Association, more than 200,000 lives can be saved in the United States each year if CPR is administered correctly and early enough after a cardiac arrest. Close to 80 percent of cardiac arrests occur at home and are witnessed by a family member. That family member has the chance to double the person's chance of survival by administering CPR.