GOLETA – Paramedics with American Medical Response are trying to get the word out about hands-only CPR that can save a life while emergency crews are on their way.
Every year more than 2 million people have heart attacks and strokes, causing 800,000 deaths. AMR Paramedics want to cut that number down by training people in CPR for free.
On Valentine's Day, the paramedics along with Santa Barbara County agencies taught more than 500 people hands-only CPR.
"We're hoping to see more and more of our cardiac arrest patients that have received CPR prior to our arrival," said Dave Schierman, American Medical Response.
Once a 911 call is made, it takes around two minutes for an ambulance to arrive. Those minutes are vital for a heart attack victim so starting CPR can help save their life.
Once paramedics arrive to the victim, the use the high tech Life Pack 15 to determine how sever the heart attack is. The machine will print out an EKG and they will read that information to a doctor while on their way to the hospital.
"We tell them what we have, what kind of signs and symptoms they're displaying and what our machine has said in the field," said Brandon Bennewate, AMR paramedic.
Each Life Pack 15 costs $25,000 and there is one in every ambulance and support vehicle in the county, totaling 36.
"Is one life worth that amount of money? Absolutely," said Bennewate.
The paramedics will be training three schools in March in hands-only CPR.
If you would like the free training, you can call American Medical Response at (805) 688-6550.
