Saving Lives with Hands-Only CPR

“CPR is not what we all grew up knowing it as. You don’t have to do mouth-to-mouth,” said Michelle Gossip, a Pauley Heart Center nurse. “Hands Only CPR is easy, and it only takes a few minutes to learn.”

Participants receive instructions at the "Hands-only CPR" mobile van

Gossip, the program coordinator for the Advanced Resuscitation, Cooling Therapeutics, and Intensive Care (ARCTIC), post cardiac arrest program, was one of about 100 guests who attended a Hands-Only CPR event on Sept. 26. VCU Health helped coordinate and promote the program, which was open to the public and held in anticipation of the Anthem Richmond Marathon, American Family Half Marathon and the VCU Health 8K.

With the backdrop of a special mobile tour bus, American Heart Association CPR instructors taught participants how to identify the signs of cardiac arrest and demonstrated lifesaving chest pumping movements to the tunes of Shakira. Each guest went home with a Hands Only CPR kit and practice mannequin. Although fun, the program had an important mission.

“The more people that know how to do this very easy skill, the more lives are going to be saved,” said Gossip. “Our Pauley Heart team knows that when someone comes to the ER for cardiac event, and they’ve received CPR in the field, it can potentially double someone’s chance of survival.”