NEWS RELEASE: DPCA AND SRP PARTNER WITH VALLEY FIRE DEPARTMENTS TO OFFER FREE MOUTH-TO-MOUTH CPR AWARENESS CLASSES

CONTACT:

Lori Schmidt, DPCA Immediate Past President, Mobile (480) 272-1710

Patty Garcia-Likens, SRP Spokesperson, (602) 245-0047

**Media is invited to a kick-off event, 9 am, Wednesday, Aug. 1, at the SRP PERA Club pool, 1 E. Continental Dr., Tempe, AZ 85281. Visuals to include CPR demonstration, pool, and Valley fire representatives.

DPCA and SRP partner with Valley Fire departments

to offer FREE Mouth-to-Mouth CPR awareness classes

Drowning is a quiet process.  There’s no splashing or yelling.

The person struggles to doggy paddle, gulping for air (and maybe swallowing water), followed quickly by the inability to speak, breathe properly or swim.

Simply put, drowning occurs when someone stops breathing because the body senses that they are beginning to take water in the lungs, and it automatically shuts down breathing completely.   Loss of consciousness happens quickly.  A lack of air in the lungs causes the brain and heart to be starved of oxygen, which can lead to death.

Mouth-to-Mouth CPR is critical to stop the drowning process by providing the brain and heart the oxygen it so desperately needs.  Hands-only CPR in this scenario is just simply not enough.

“In the past 15 years, the push has been to increase bystander CPR for cardiac events.  This means more people have learned how to do continuous chest compressions, which is fantastic,” says Drowning Prevention Coalition of Arizona President Melissa Sutton. “But we can’t lose the importance of traditional CPR with breaths in respiratory events -- especially in drownings.  We must replenish the oxygen to the brain.”

August is Drowning Impact Awareness Month.  Several Valley fire departments, in partnership with SRP and DPCA, are offering free CPR classes to the public during the month of August.  Visit www.preventdrownings.org  and click “Learn CPR” under the Prevention tab for a list of available classes.  Some are certification; others are awareness classes.

“We are pleased to partner with the DPCA and our Valley fire departments in this effort,” says Juana Hernandez, Community Outreach Representative for SRP Safety Connection. “We know that CPR is the last line of defense if all other layers of protection have failed.  Being able to administer CPR can make a difference between life and death, or prevent significant brain injury.”

​Layers of protection include Adult supervision, Barriers to prevent access to water, Coast-Guard approved life vests, Classes in swimming and mouth-to-mouth CPR.

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The Drowning Prevention Coalition, a community based organization comprised of parents, health and safety professionals and business leaders, exists to provide a forum to prevent drowning and near drowning through the promotion of education, legislative action and enhanced product safety.  Check out our website at www.preventdrownings.org for more information.

SRP works with local organizations and Valley fire departments to provide customers and communities with safety-focused programs, resources and events. SRP is a community-based, not-for-profit public power utility and the largest provider of electricity in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, serving more than 1 million customers. SRP also is the metropolitan area’s largest supplier of water, delivering about 800,000 acre-feet annually to municipal, urban and agricultural water users.