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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
City of Duluth Communications Office
Mayor Roger J. Reinert
411 West First Street • Duluth, Minnesota 55802 • www.duluthmn.gov
411 West First Street • Duluth, Minnesota 55802 • www.duluthmn.gov
For more information, please call 218-730-5309
DATE: 1/23/2014
SUBJECT: Duluth Awarded Hands-Only™ CPR Training Kit Grant by the American Heart Association and Cities of Service
BY: Pakou Ly, Public Information Coordinator
SUBJECT: Duluth Awarded Hands-Only™ CPR Training Kit Grant by the American Heart Association and Cities of Service
BY: Pakou Ly, Public Information Coordinator
Duluth Awarded Hands-Only™ CPR Training Kit Grant by the American Heart Association and Cities of Service
City of Duluth to receive 500 CPR Anytime kits to implement the Cities of Service Volunteer CPR Blueprint to improve cardiac arrest survival rates
(DULUTH – January 23, 2014) – The City of Duluth is one of five cities that have been chosen by the American Heart Association and Cities of Service, a bi-partisan coalition of more than 180 mayors committed to using citizen service to address pressing local needs, to receive 500 CPR Anytime Kits (or Hands-Only™ CPR training kits) to help turn more of their residents into lifesavers. Last year’s grant recipients were able to train nearly 17,000 people in lifesaving Hands-Only CPR skills with the kits they received. Duluth plans to train 3000 citizens with the grant, equipping Duluthians to act as first responders in cardiac arrest emergencies. Mayor Don Ness and Superintendent Bill Gronseth were among the first cohort of Duluthians to be trained.
“I am pleased to join the Duluth Fire Department in kicking off a City initiative that has the potential of saving lives,” says Mayor Don Ness. “I encourage as many Duluthians to join me in taking the pledge to learn hands-only CPR and to extend that training to their friends and family. The more knowledgeable we are, the better prepared we will be.”
This year’s training kit grant winners also include: Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Phoenix, Ariz., Richmond, Va., and Rock Hill, S.C. The grants will support the implementation of the Cities of Service Volunteer CPR Blueprint, a high-impact service strategy in which the mayor’s office partners with local medical professionals and emergency responders to train volunteers to use the lifesaving Hands-Only CPR technique. The Blueprint calls for the volunteers, who are trained by professionals, to teach CPR to at least five other residents, vastly improving a community’s ability to respond to sudden cardiac emergencies.
Citizens will have the opportunity to be trained on the Hands-Only CPR Kits through a variety of outreach activities, including:
- Free monthly trainings by the Duluth Fire Department at neighborhood community clubs
- Open training sessions at large-scale community events
- Invitation to service groups, businesses, faith communities and other community organizations to schedule a training
- Coordination with the Duluth Public Schools for middle and high school students to be trained through the health curriculum
Trainings take no more than 30 minutes per session. Citizens are invited to register for an upcoming class or to request a training session for their organization by visiting: http://www.duluthmn.gov/fire/cpr or call Cheryl Skafte, the City’s Volunteer Coordinator at (218) 730-4334.
The Volunteer CPR Blueprint is one of 11 customizable Blueprints from Cities of Service. These Blueprints are a set of step-by-step, how-to guides for cities and mayors to leverage volunteer service to move the needle against pressing local challenges.
Nearly 400,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur annually in the United States, and 89 percent of victims die because they don’t receive immediate CPR from someone on the scene. Hands-Only CPR is a quick, easy way to save more lives. If you see a teen or adult suddenly collapse, (1) Call 9-1-1; and (2) Push hard and fast in the center of the chest. Doing these compressions at the proper beat can more than double a person’s chances of survival; coincidentally, the proper beat matches the classic Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive.”
The City of Duluth recognizes the support of its community partners in launching this initiative, including the state and local chapters of the American Heart Association, the Duluth Public Schools, Essentia Health Care Systems, St. Luke’s, Minnesota Resuscitation Consortium, and Arrowhead EMS.
Cities interested in the grant program or joining the Cities of Service coalition can email info@citiesofservice.orgto learn how to get involved.
For more information about Cities of Service, visit www.citiesofservice.org and to learn more about Hands-Only CPR, visit www.heart.org/handsonlycpr.
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About the American Heart Association
The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke – America’s No. 1 and No. 4 killers. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, visit heart.org 
or call any of our offices around the country. Follow us on Facebook http://facebook.com/AmericanHeart and Twitter http://twitter.com/American_Heart .
or call any of our offices around the country. Follow us on Facebook http://facebook.com/AmericanHeart and Twitter http://twitter.com/American_Heart . About Cities of Service
Founded in September 2009 by former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and 16 other mayors from across the nation, Cities of Service is a bipartisan coalition of mayors committed to addressing critical city needs through impact volunteering. American cities face serious challenges and many mayors want to take advantage of every resource available to them – including the time and energy of public-spirited residents – to address those challenges. But in cities across America today, citizen service is often an underutilized or inefficiently utilized strategy by municipal governments. By leveraging citizen service strategies, Cities of Service helps mayors address local needs and make government more effective. To learn more, visit citiesofservice.org or follow us on Twitter @CitiesofService.