Start the Heart Foundation has been working with the organizers of the Dirt Bowl; playground basketball tournament, for some while to be able to provide a hands only CPR demonstrations at the event. Yesterday was the opening day of the tournament which will be running through July in Louisville, KY.
Neal Robertson and his staff were very welcoming and accommodating to us at the world class event. The basketball action was fast and furious with great competition.
This is a great event for us to teach hands only CPR. The tournament is located on the Western side of Louisville, KY. This area of the city has a very high incidence of cardiac arrest. Since only 10% of people in our community survive a cardiac arrest it means that there are many people in this area dying from a cardiac arrest. We know that receiving bystander CPR is a critical component for people to survive a cardiac arrest. The number one reason that people do not receive bystander CPR is due to a lack of knowledge of what to do during an arrest.
We know that studies show that even brief exposures to hands only CPR education can be effective in teaching people what to do during a cardiac arrest. We had a 90 second hands only CPR demonstration at 1/2 time of the first game of the tournament. Rayvon, the emcee, was nice enough to be our victim to be resuscitated.
We want to thank the organizers of the Dirt Bowl for allowing us to come out and educate the community about hands only CPR. Great to see Metro Council woman Cherie Hamilton out supporting the event and us yesterday. We look forward to coming back throughout the tournament and giving more demonstrations.