EMS agency uses grant to teach CPR to 2.7K residents

Nature Coast EMS hopes the effort will decrease the growing number of newborn deaths in the county

By EMS1 Staff

CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. — An EMS agency used a state grant to teach thousands of residents CPR.

Citrus County Chronicle reported that Nature Coast EMS is hoping to decrease the number of infant deaths after learning that newborns are dying faster in Citrus County than anywhere else in Florida.

Nature Coast EMS used a state grant to teach over 2,700 residents CPR. (Photo/AHA)

In order to fund the education program, the EMS agency used a $111,678 grant from the Florida Department of Health and has taught CPR to 2,766 residents since May 2017.

“When someone is doing CPR as a bystander before responders arrive, their chance of survival goes up significantly,” Nature Coast EMS president/CEO Mike Hall said.

Hall added that the agency’s cardiac arrest survival rate is “phenomenal.”

“Here at Nature Coast EMS, our survival rate from a cardiac arrest is four times higher than nation’s average, and now we can make that even better,” he said. “It just can’t be us alone.”

EMS Director of Education and Clinical Services Jane Bedford said the grant helped pay for CPR kits that were designed to self-teach adult, child and infant CPR, and the agency also taught hands-only CPR to 878 people. She added that she’s very grateful for the public’s participation.

“They stepped up and took the time to learn CPR,” Bedford said. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”