By Katie Humphrey
Austin American-Statesman (Texas)
Copyright 2007 The Austin American-Statesman
All Rights Reserved
One small Travis County town has big life-saving ambitions.
A program launched Tuesday by county emergency personnel and Texas Disposal Systems Inc. will give residents of every Creedmoor household the opportunity to learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation for free, using kits containing a 22-minute video and an inflatable manikin. The 2000 census reported that the town had 211 residents.
“Every household in town will have one, and we’re really proud of that,” Mayor Robert Wilhite said. “I hope it will catch on and other communities will follow suit.”
Firefighters from Travis County Fire Rescue, which serves southeastern Travis County, will distribute the 250 kits door to door over the next three weeks. A DVD player will be made available to residents who don’t have one, and emergency personnel will make follow-up visits in three weeks to answer questions, Fire Chief Ken Bailey said.
Those who complete the self-guided training won’t be certified CPR providers, but they will know the basic skills that could save a life, Bailey said. If a bystander performs CPR while waiting for emergency personnel to arrive, it increases the patient’s chances for survival, he said.
“It doesn’t change our call volume. It just changes the outcome of the calls we make,” Bailey said.
“Ultimately, our goal is we want to hit every man, woman and child willing and able to do CPR.”
Creedmoor-based Texas Disposal Systems donated $5,000 to purchase the kits after being approached by Bailey about six weeks ago.
“It’s just a smart thing to do,” said Jimmy Gregory, the company’s vice president and co-owner. “If it would save one life, it’s clearly worth that.”
The kits are appealing because learning from them takes less time than attending the four-hour average certification class, and being at home removes the fear of doing something wrong in front of a classroom full of students, said Dr. Ed Racht, medical director for Austin/Travis County Emergency Medical Services.
Creedmoor is just a starting point for the program, he said.
“It’s a small town, but it is the whole town,” Racht said. “And if the whole town can do it, then the message to the rest of our communities ought to be that we need to make this happen everywhere that cardiac arrest is possible, which is everywhere.”