Ross Stores providing free CPR training resources to schools in need
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Kids learning bystander CPR may be the answer to reducing death from the more than 420,000 cardiac arrests that occur each year. Sadly, most of those victims die, often because bystanders don’t know how to start CPR, or are afraid they’ll do something wrong. Further complicating the issue are the disparities among Latinos and African-Americans, who are 30 percent less likely to have bystander CPR performed on them in an emergency, according to a study by the American Heart Association. People who live in lower-income, African-American neighborhoods are 50 percent less likely to have CPR performed. The AHA is training students, teachers and parents in CPR to help eliminate these inequities, exposing lifesaving skills to millions at a young age. Ross Dress for Less (“Ross”) is supporting AHA’s efforts to help save more lives in all communities by providing free CPR training resources to public schools in lower-income areas.
Researchers believe that teaching children in high-risk neighborhoods about lifesaving CPR and then having them share this knowledge with their families and friends is a key way to spreading the message. This initial research found that the biggest challenges for minorities in urban communities to learn and perform CPR are cost, fear and lack of information. For that specific reason, the Ross stores program will support schools in underserved communities. There are currently six Ross stores in Metro Birmingham.
The American Heart Association’s goal is to pair each Ross Dress for Less store with a nearby public school that has at least 50 percent of their students receiving free or reduced lunch. Schools will receive a CPR in Schools Training Kit™, teaching materials to implement the program, and a school-based report card at the end of the year that shows how many students they have trained.
