By Brian Schultz
November is just around the corner and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Manitoba will be pushing CPR Month initiatives.
To help spread its message, the HSF will be giving away 500 free CPR Anytime Kits at St. Vital Centre today.
The kits will be given to the first 500 people who register to be “CPR Month Heroes,” and encourage their friends and family to do the same.
“Out of an average of 50 to 70 cardiac arrests that occur outside of hospital in Winnipeg alone each month, 75 per cent do not receive CPR prior to EMS arrival,” said Diana Bayles, resuscitation and AED Manager for HSF in Manitoba. “The odds of survival for a victim of cardiac arrest are almost four times greater if someone performs CPR on them right away. If we can increase the number of people who know CPR, the number of lives that can be saved would increase dramatically.”
The kits will be available for pick up during mall hours, where HSF and City of Winnipeg paramedics will be giving away free kits all day to individuals or teams of 10 that register for the challenge.
The goal of the challenge is to have at least 5,000 more Manitobans trained in CPR this year.
