The Independence Blue Cross Foundation and the Philadelphia Union welcomed more than 350 people at Talen Energy Stadium on Saturday for a community event focused on CPR awareness. Family-friendly activities featured Hands-only CPR training, which has been proven to be as successful as traditional CPR (chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth breaths) in saving lives.
The Mobile CPR Project, run by the Penn Medicine Center for Resuscitation Science and supported through a grant by the IBC Foundation, conducted the short training sessions. Attendees also enjoyed food, games, entertainment, and giveaways.
In Philadelphia, more than 1,200 people died from sudden cardiac arrest in 2015. In those cases, the percentage of people who received bystander CPR was 14.3 percent – less than half of the national average. Hands-only CPR— which can be learned in about 30 minutes — is effective, especially for bystanders waiting for emergency personnel to arrive. Hands-only CPR can double or triple a victim’s chance of survival if performed within the first couple minutes, according to the American Heart Association.
