Title
Recognizing and supporting the recognition of February 2024 as "American Heart Month".
Body
WHEREAS, more than 350,000 people experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital each year and only about 1 in 10 survive; and more than 23,000 children under the age of 18 experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital each year in the United States and almost 40 percent of these are sports related; and
WHEREAS, there are effective solutions to this problem - awareness and education to have cardiac emergency response plans in place, CPR education and automated external defibrillator (AED) training and accessibility; and
WHEREAS, about 70 percent of cardiac arrests that occur outside of a hospital happen at home; and
WHEREAS, CPR, especially if performed immediately, can double or triple a person's chance of survival; and only about 46 percent of people who experience cardiac arrest receive CPR from people nearby while waiting for emergency responders to arrive; and
WHEREAS, knowing how to properly perform CPR has encouraged more people to act when faced with a cardiac emergency and to save more lives from cardiac arrest outside of a hospital, we must increase the number of people who respond to cardiac arrest by calling 911, delivering high-quality CPR and using an AED as soon as it is available; and
WHEREAS, CPR is a lifesaving skill that most people, including children as young as age 9, can learn; and
WHEREAS, the American Heart Association has set a goal of doubling the survival from cardiac arrest by 2030 by turning bystanders into lifesavers, so that everyone, everywhere is prepared and empowered to become a vital link in the chain of survival and provide CPR in response to a cardiac emergency; and
WHEREAS, currently 90 percent of people who experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital die, in part because they do not receive CPR more than half of the time; and CPR; especially if performed immediately, can double or triple a person's chance of...
Click here for full text