Special thanks to the state of Arkansas! HB 2224 passed both the House and Senate and is now signed into law by Governor Beebe. This bill will require basic CPR training to be a permanent part of the high school Health and Safety Course, which is a requirement for graduation. 

Starting with the freshman class of 2016, all high school students in Virginia will be trained in CPR before they graduate. Gwyneth’s Law, named for 13-year old Gwyneth Griffin who died in July 2012 after suffering a cardiac arrest at school, also requires all teachers in Virginia to be trained in CPR.

Join our movement today to make all students in America CPR Smart!www.becprsmart.org

We’ve just learned that Virginia Governor McDonnell has signed a law mandating that (staring with the freshman class of 2016) all high school students in Virginia will be trained in CPR before they graduate! The bill also requires all teachers in Virginia to be trained in CPR as a condition of their licensure. 

The legislation, Gwyneth’s Law, was named for 13-year old Gwyneth Griffin, who died in July 2012 after suffering a cardiac arrest at school. Her parents, Joel and Jennifer Griffin, were tireless advocates and worked side-by-side with AHA staff to advance this legislation. Knowing that CPR could have saved her life, the Griffins made it their mission to empower Virginians to save lives for generations to come. Gwyneth’s Law will add approximately 80,000 CPR trained rescuers across Virginia every year. The AHA team was honored to help them create a legacy for Gwyneth and to help prevent other parents from suffering the same tragedy. 

Special thanks and congratulations go out to our Advocacy staff leads Government Relations Director Chris Ramos and Grassroots Director Keltcie Delamarand, the whole Virginia staff, the volunteer team and legislative champions Del. Mark Dudenhefer and Sen. Richard Stuart for their hard work to achieve this incredible success. We’re one step closer to achieving our goal of having every student trained in lifesaving CPR before graduation!

A little knowledge can be a lifesaving thing. Too often, people use “sudden cardiac arrest” and “heart attack” interchangeably, but they shouldn’t. Now, the AHA offers an infographic that can help you learn the difference. Check it out today. Fast action can save lives. Know what to do if someone experiences a heart attack or cardiac arrest.

Infographic – What is Cardiac Arrest vs. Heart Attack?

Today is the day! It’s the 10^th Annual National Wear Red Day. We hope you are all donning red today whether it is a dress, shirt, tie, scarf, shoes or an AHA Red Dress pin. 

Today kicks off the first day of American Heart Month. For 10 years, women have been fighting heart disease individually and together as part of the Go Red For Women movement. More than 627,000 women’s lives have been saved, and 330 fewer women are dying per day. But the fight is far from over. 

Heart disease is still our No. 1 killer – it affects more women than men and is more deadly than all forms of cancer combined. But the strength of mothers, sisters, daughters and friends fighting side by side is more powerful than any killer. I show my support in honor of the women I love, and I hope you’ll join me! Visit www.heart.org for more information and tools to help you spread the word.

“Out for a 10-mile run on a beautiful Florida day, 52-year-old Costco member Tom Maimone collapsed at mile nine in a neighbor’s driveway. Luckily, Tom Elowson, also a Costco member, was driving by when it happened. Immediately, Elowson jumped into action and started chest compressions while humming the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” (to maintain the correct pace) as a neighbor called 911. “I had never had any formal CPR training,” says Elowson, who had seen the Today show’s Matt Lauer demonstrate Hands-Only CPR and remembered it.”

Read more about the lifesaving difference Hands-Only CPR made for Tom Maimone in the February issue of Costco Connection, a monthly magazine distributed to 8.5 million Costco store members worldwide. Thank you, Costco, for helping AHA spread the word about the importance of taking action with two simple steps to save a life!

http://www.costcoconnection.com/connection/201302#pg62

Did you know that the line, “Annie are you OK?” in Michael Jackson’s hit, “Smooth Criminal” was inspired by the standard name given to CPR demonstration manikins?

Jackson had been CPR trained and picked up “Annie are you OK?” after learning to first check the victim for responsiveness.

Check out the clip below from the ABC special, “BAD25,” celebrating the 25th anniversary edition reissue of Jackson’s seventh studio album, “Bad:” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4mUH_TwsEE&feature=plcp.

I’m excited to announce that, in coordination with Sudden Cardiac Awareness Month, AHA has launched a new web-based video, “Rules of Hands-Only CPR,” featuring the cast of the CBS hit series “Rules of Engagement!”

Cast members of the show, Adhir Kalyan, Bianca Kajlich, Megyn Price, Oliver Hudson and Patrick Warburton, star in the AHA’s new Hands-Only CPR video, which you can see here. “Rules of Hands-Only CPR” imagines a casual dinner conversation between two couples as they discuss the reasons for learning Hands-Only CPR. Newly engaged sweethearts, Adam & Jennifer (Oliver Hudson, Bianca Kajlich) assist their enthusiastic friend Audrey (Megyn Price) in teaching her macho husband, Jeff (Patrick Warburton), the simple steps to save a life.  Just as the scene is coming to a close, Timmy (Adhir Kalyan) bursts in in his finest white disco suit.

We hope you will use this new Hands-Only video asset to continue raising awareness of Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month (October) and the AHA’s 2012 Hands-Only CPR campaign.

Enjoy!

Disco fever was high in San Francisco

The second leg of the AHA’s Hands-Only CPR Mobile Tour kicked off last week in Sacramento with stops at the State Capitol Building, the Department of Health Care Services and the Wells Fargo corporate headquarters, where we trained more than 800 people how to perform the simple steps of Hands-Only CPR following the beat of “Stayin’ Alive.” In the state capital, the tour celebrated our biggest event to date, with over 700 trained at the Department of Health Care Services alone!

 Before rolling south into San Francisco, we visited the Hewitt Packard headquarters in Palo Alto, where we trained nearly 400 employees. The day featured important survivor stories from Marcia Mills and Ken Byk and strong support from the Palo Alto Fire Department.

In San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza, we held two sessions, training more than 130 people. We enjoyed an enthusiastic crowd and amazing support from the San Francisco Fire Department and American Medical Response. Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White and Fire Medical Director Dr. Clement Yeh addressed the crowd, as did survivor Ken Byk and AMR’s Mike Padro, one of Ken’s rescuers (Ken and Mike met for the first time today!). Check out this excellent clip from the CBS affiliate, KPIX, to see Dr. Kim Mulvihill’s coverage of the event, as well as her disco moves!  http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/7766516-healthwatch-disco-rhythm-key-in-effective-cpr/

 After stops at Oracle’s headquarters and the Richmond Civic Center tomorrow, we’ll make our way to Los Angeles and San Diego. We’ll continue to provide you updates along the way as we show the Golden State our disco moves, including how to keep “Stayin’ Alive” with Hands-Only CPR!

 I wanted to share with you an incredible story that shows how the message of the AHA’s Hands-Only CPR campaign is helping save lives. In late August, Major League Baseball umpire Jim Joyce used CPR to rescue a woman who’d suffered cardiac arrest at an Arizona Diamondbacks game. Joyce said that as he administered these lifesaving steps, he sang the song that is the centerpiece of our Hands-Only campaign, “Stayin’ Alive.” The AHA recommends this Bee Gees hit because its tempo – at about 100 beats per minute – is an ideal pace for providing chest compressions. Read more about this story of survival at the MLB website!