Paramedics bring CPR lessons to the community

EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA) - September is Disaster Preparedness Month, and Imperial County first responders are taking life-saving training directly to the community.

Local Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) gave "hands-on" compression-only CPR lessons to shoppers at the Walmart in El Centro Wednesday.

Their goal is to get ordinary people comfortable with taking action in an emergency where every second counts.

"We have about [five-to-seven] minutes of oxygen stored in our blood, and pumping on the chest, we circulate that blood and we help keep that patient's organs alive until EMS is able to arrive," David Creiglow, EMS and Disaster Preparedness Manager for Imperial County Public Health, told News 11.

He said this is a modified version of traditional CPR.

"Statistically, it was found that a lot of people, even trained personnel, didn't want to do the mouth-to-mouth portion, so they've come out, and we've started teaching hands-only CPR," he explained.