In honor of National CPR Week, the American Heart Association is collaborating with the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency to coordinate a County wide CPR program. Emergency healthcare providers, such as fire departments, ambulance companies, hospitals and education programs will be going out into the community to teach residents how to save a life with CPR.

This service is free to the public and will be held in various locations across Southern California, including Los Angeles County, with the goal of increasing the number of lifesavers in the community.

The City of Downey Fire Dept. will join these efforts and host free Hands-Only CPR training at Downey City Hall, 11111 Brookshire Ave on Thursday, June 7 from 9 a.m.-12 noon. CPR instructors will be on hand to demonstrate the basics and proper techniques of Hands-Only CPR, and participants will have the opportunity to practice on mannequins.

The training will not result in CPR certification, but information on how you can get certified will be available.

Cardiac arrests are more common than you think, and they can happen to anyone at any time. Nearly 300,000 out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrests occur annually and only 32 percent of cardiac arrest victims get CPR from a bystander. Failure to act in a cardiac emergency can lead to unnecessary deaths.

In fact, less than 8% of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside the hospital survive.

On the other hand, effective bystander CPR provided immediately after sudden cardiac arrest can double or triple a victim's chance of survival.

Don't be a bystander in a cardiac emergency. For more information about the free Hands-Only CPR training, contact Robert Hohn at 562-904-7345 or rhohn@downeyca.org