The Kernersville Family YMCA joined a statewide push Wednesday to train thousands of residents in hands-only CPR. Duke University launched the ambitious effort to break a world record while teaching life-saving skills.
Members of the public cycled through the facility’s lobby throughout the day as instructors demonstrated how to recognize signs of cardiac arrest and begin immediate chest compressions.
The event is part of an ongoing partnership between Duke Clinical Research Institute, EMS agencies, hospitals, and law enforcement across North Carolina. The trial aims to improve survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Instructor Joe Hundley, a paramedic who helped conduct the local training, told Scope News that survival rates have “hovered around 10% nationally for 40 years,” adding: “What we’ve learned is we don’t need lay rescuers to do everything perfectly; we just need them to start compressions.”
That shift in focus reflects evolving science around CPR. Without teaching a series of complex steps, “hand-only” CPR emphasizes pushing hard and fast in the center of the chest at a rate of 100-120 compressions per minute to circulate oxygenated blood to the brain until first responders arrive.
Hundley noted that every minute without intervention reduces survival chances by roughly 10%. With the average emergency response time hovering around six minutes, experts say hands-only CPR from a bystander can double or even triple survival rates.
Duke researchers set a goal of training at least 30,000 North Carolinians in a single day across 30 participating counties. Volunteers logged each participant in real time through a live dashboard tracking the statewide total.
Training sessions lasted just a few minutes and focused on the “four C’s”: Check, Call 911, Compress, and Connect to an AED if available. Participants were required to complete at least 100 compressions on a training mannequin in order to count toward the record.
“We’re trying to bridge the gap between when the heart stops and when EMS arrives,” Hundley said. “If more people are willing to step in, we can finally move the needle on survival.”
Those who missed this week’s event and are interested in CPR training can contact the American Heart Association, the Red Cross, or local fire/EMS agencies for information about upcoming classes.
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