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Compress and Shock Foundation offers free CPR and AED usage training during CPR awareness week
ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) — As a part of national CPR awareness week, several local healthcare systems partnered with the Roanoke-based Compress and Shock Foundation to host free educational opportunities to equip the public with the skills to save a life.
LewisGale Regional Health System partnered with the foundation to host a class at First Baptist Church in Roanoke that taught around 40 participants.
'Sudden cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time,' said Jennifer Herriot-Trejo, director of Hispanic outreach for the Compress and Shock Foundation. 'It does not discriminate based on age, race, anything.'
Several volunteers, including a few LewisGale nurses, helped to lead small-group training sessions, where participants were able to practice the skills they had been taught.
'I've always had a passion for cardiac patients and it's great to be able to bring this to the community and teach the community how to save lives and make a difference in someone's life one person at a time,' said LewisGale nurse Heather Snyder.
The Compress and Shock Foundation offers free CPR and AED usage training, and as part of their 'education day,' on Saturday, they were active across Virginia and around the country alongside regional health partners.
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LewisGale's parent company, HCA Healthcare, has invested $40,000 into Compress and Shock, which has allowed the foundation to increase the accessibility of AEDs.
After Saturday's class in Roanoke, the partnership between Compress and Shock and HCA Healthcare had provided 15 AEDs to a number of communities, with hopes of supplying 10 more by the end of 2025.
'[AEDs] need to be in schools, they need to be in churches, they need to be in sports clubs,' said Herriot-Trejo. 'They need to be accessible so that people are prepared for when something happens. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.'
Saturday's class was taught bilingually, another component of Compress and Shock's mission to make the knowledge and skills to save a life accessible by all members of the community.
According to Herriot-Trejo, non-English speakers often miss out on learning the critical information because of the language barrier.
'We just want to meet people where they are and get things into the languages that they understand,' said Herriot-Trejo. 'So that if they do need to activate their emergency response systems, they're going to feel adequately prepared because they've received that knowledge in their language.'
Compress and Shock also partnered with Carilion Clinic to host an education day in Christiansburg.
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