On last Thursday, more than 28,000 students across Orange County Public Schools received Hands-Only CPR training on Thursday as part of a city-wide initiative recognizing World Heart Day. The event, hosted by Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Orlando Fire Chief Charlie Salazar, and the American Heart Association, aimed to equip young people with life-saving skills.
At Boone High School, Orlando firefighters trained hundreds of students using CPR mannequins, demonstrating how to recognize the signs of cardiac arrest and properly administer Hands-Only CPR and use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).
Firefighters across the county participated in similar training sessions, reaching thousands of students in an effort to improve cardiac emergency response rates in the community.
This initiative builds upon Mayor Dyer’s Take Heart Orlando Hands-Only CPR program, which has trained more than 175,000 Orlando residents in CPR and cardiac arrest awareness since its launch. Last year alone, the City of Orlando provided Hands-Only CPR training to over 7,800 residents and certified more than 600 people in CPR.
Orange County Public Schools is now the third school district in Florida to implement a policy requiring all students to be trained in Hands-Only CPR. With more than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occurring annually in the United States, city leaders say this training could significantly increase survival rates in Orlando and beyond.
