On Thursday, June 7th, the Ventura County Emergency Medical Services Agency partnered with the American Heart Association to coordinate a county-wide CPR program. This service was free to the public and was held in various locations across Southern California, Including Fillmore, with the goal of increasing the number of lifesavers in the community. Emergency healthcare providers, such as fire departments, ambulance companies, hospitals - Ventura County Medical Center, Santa Paula Hospital, Los Robles Hospital, Community Memorial Hospital and St. John's Hospital — and education programs went out into the community to teach residents how to save a life with "Hands-Only" CPR.

CPR instructors were on hand to demonstrate the basics and proper techniques of "Hands-Only" CPR, and participants had the opportunity to practice on mannequins. The training did not result in CPR certification.
Cardiac arrests are more common than you think, and can happen to anyone at any time. Nearly 300,000 out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrests occur annually and only 32 percent of cardiac arrest victims get CPR from a lay person. Failure to act in a cardiac emergency can lead to unnecessary deaths. In fact, less than eight percent of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside the hospital survive. On the other hand, effective bystander CPR provided immediately after sudden cardiac arrest can double or triple a victim's chance of survival. In 2011, Ventura County responded to 440 cardiac arrests; only 30% had bystander CPR in progress. Of those, only 14% went home neurologically intact.

Sadly, 70 percent of Americans may feel helpless to act during a cardiac emergency because they either do not know how to administer CPR or their training has significantly lapsed. This alarming statistic could hit close to home, because home is exactly where 80 percent of cardiac arrests occur. Put very simply: The life you save with CPR is mostly likely to be someone you love.

Participating Agencies in alphabetical order were: American Heart Association, American Medical Response, Community Memorial Hospital, Federal Fire Ventura County, Fillmore Fire Department, Gold Coast Ambulance, LifeLine Medical Transport, Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center, Ojai Valley Community Hospital, Oxnard Fire Department, Santa Paula Fire Department, Santa Paula Hospital, Simi Valley Hospital, St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital, St. John's Regional Medical Center, Ventura City Fire Department, Ventura County EMS Agency, Ventura County Fire Department, Ventura County Medical Center, Ventura County Medical Reserve Corps.