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MWCC Student Nurses Association Partnering with American Heart Association to Offer Free, Hands-Only CPR Training

AHA Hands Only CPRThe Student Nurses Association at Mount Wachusett Community College is partnering with the American Heart Association to offer free, “Hands-Only CPR” training on February 22 and February 23 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Gardner campus, South Cafe.

MWCC nursing students trained in CPR are taking part in the CPR Community-Wide Challenge, sponsored through the American Heart Association’s Central Massachusetts division. Throughout February, participating colleges and universities in Worcester County are training students, faculty, staff and community members in the life-saving skills of Hands-Only CPR to promote heart health and focus on saving lives.

According to the AHA, more than 326,000 people experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital each year, and about 90 percent of those victims die, often because bystanders don’t know how to start CPR or are afraid they’ll do something wrong. CPR, especially if performed immediately, can double or triple a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival.

Hands-Only CPR is CPR without mouth-to-mouth breaths. It is recommended for use by people who see a teen or adult suddenly collapse in an “out-of-hospital” setting, such as at home, at work or in a park.

The CPR Community-Wide Challenge training at is being conducted by student groups with equipment donated by the American Heart Association and the corporate sponsors of the challenge. The challenge is locally sponsored by UMass Memorial Medical Center and Medstar Ambulance. To learn more about CPR and local CPR classes, visit, www.heart.org/cpr.