On July 16, Fire Fighter Luis Hernandez trained over 60 children between the ages of 10 and 17 on CPR at a special class held at the East Los Angeles Boys and Girls Club. In his off-time, Hernandez serves as the Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Club. He, along with Community Service Representative Rosemary Vivero, realized that the 4,000 kids who attend the club were a population ripe for teaching the lifesaving skills of CPR. The American Heart Association’s (AHA) Family & Friends CPR Anytime Personal Learning Program allows anyone to learn the core skills of CPR in just 20 minutes using their own personal kit, and with 200 kids visiting the club per day, it was a tremendous opportunity to save lives.

“Rosemary had been working with the AHA on bringing CPR classes to the community for a while,” says Hernandez. “So we paired with them to create a kid-friendly program.”

After speaking with a representative from the AHA, the organization, along with the Zoll Medical Corporation (which manufactures defibrillators), donated 60 CPR kits for the class. Hernandez then taught the class to eager students on his day off. The class was so popular that unfortunately, they had to turn away some students because there was not enough room or supplies to accommodate them.

“They loved it,” says Hernandez. “They had heard of CPR, but never had an actual class. Since kids like to do anything with their hands, they really got into it when they practiced the compressions, especially along with the beat of the music,” he says, referring to the disco hit “Stayin’ Alive” which is said to have the perfect rhythm to match the compressions needed in CPR. “It was a really fun class. Who would have thought they’d be into the Bee Gees so much?”

Due to high demand, Hernandez is currently working on providing an additional class at the Club. “Quite a few Fire Department families send their kids to this Boys and Girls club, so we are very active and supportive in teaching lifesaving skills,” he says.

For more information on the CPR Anytime program visit the AHA’s website.

 

Source:  County of LA FD