Cardiac arrest safety tips

Sunrise reporter Melissa Zaremba has the latest safety tips from the Yuma Fire Department on what you can do to help someone going through the same thing

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY-TV) - The Yuma Fire Department (YPD) says they responded to 23 reports of unconscious people last week with several of them in cardiac arrest or experiencing a drug overdose.

It's not unusual for YPD to get calls about locals going through cardiac arrest.

And they say one method can help save a life.

“What we really want to stress about and put out there is learn CPR, this past week the 3 individuals that did bystander CPR definitely had a better chance of survival compared to somebody who didn’t have that done prior to fire personnel or fire responders arriving on the scene.”

YPD says CPR isn’t difficult to learn.

“Press hard and fast, obviously when you find somebody you want to have them on their back you want to press hard and fast in the middle of the chest and have some activate 911 until and keep chest compressions and if you start getting fatigued and then you have someone else who is willing to help then have them hop in,” says Yuma Fire Inspector Investigator, Robert Rillamas.

They want all locals to learn this technique.

“We have classes available give us a call we are willing to teach willing to have people come through our organization and learn CPR, we really want to get that out there and keep that going,” says Rillamas.

Resources are always available or you can always dial 911.

If you want to learn CPR you can contact YPD's Fire Administration at (928) 373-4850 to set up a class.