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Health & Fitness

Helping to Make Darien a HEARTSafe Community

A few weeks ago, I was spending my Sunday afternoon like many other parents, standing on the side of a playing field cheering on one of my children's teams.  The venue was a girls' lacrosse jamboree in Suffern, NY.  The fourth of five games was just starting when one of the referees collapsed on the field.  The poor man had apparently had a heart attack.    

While the rest of the parents and I were fumbling to dial 911 on our cell phones, a trainer was called over, started CPR, and eventually used a defibrillator to resuscitate the man.   

Watching this emergency unfold in front of me made me feel helpless that, if the situation were different and if it were up to me to save this man, I would not know how to correctly administer CPR since the last CPR training I had was more than several years ago and, apparently, is not the preferred method anymore.  

It became very apparent to all of us parents that day that we needed to learn proper CPR and defibrillator use.  Lucky for us, Sabrina Jaques took the initiative, (Sabrina was also the one to successfully dial 911 in Suffern), called Post 53 and arranged for Post 53’s Deputy Director Nancy Herling and AEMT Antonia Basu, to instruct us in CPR and AED.

Nancy and Antonia lead us through an American Heart Association certified course on adult, child, and infant CPR and the use of the AED (automatic external defibrillator).  We each received hands on practice on a “family” of mannequins to learned proper compression and breath techniques, as well as, how to use an AED.  We also learned the different approaches to aid both adult/child and infant choking victims and each received our own CPR mask and workbook.  

Nancy and Antonia are part of a dedicated group of adult volunteers at Post 53 who, along with equally dedicated Darien High School students, provide excellent emergency medical services to the Darien community.  The Town of Darien is designated as a HEARTSafe Community by the CT Department of Public Health which signifies the town’s commitment to train its residents in CPR and AED.  The many highly qualified volunteers at Post 53 are available to lead CPR/AED courses similar to the one we took and encourage anyone interested to contact them for more information at: training@post53.org .

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