South Jordan Fire Department Pumped to Get Hearts Pumping
Jan 26, 2016 12:03PM ● By Bryan Scott
By Tori La Rue | [email protected]
South Jordan - South Jordan City has a high cardiac arrest save rate compared to cities across the nation, and fire department officials attribute part of this success to the CPR and AED classes they offer to residents.
The city’s save rate is 50 percent, which towers over the national average which is 5 to 6 percent, according to Andrew Butler, chief of the South Jordan Fire Department.
“We recognize the need for early CPR with sudden cardiac arrest and heart attacks,” Butler said. “We need people who can give an immediate start, and it’s really been a combination of firefighters, police officers and residents helping out.”
Within the past year, six out of the 12 people who entered cardiac arrest in South Jordan were taken to the hospital with a pulse, he said.
The most recent cardiac arrest in the city happened on Dec. 23 when a man began to have a heart attack at the South Jordan Fitness and Aquatic Center, Butler said.
Corban Summers, an off-duty firefighter, administered CPR to the man until the fire department was able to come in. The man was saved because of the fast actions of Summers and the department, Butler said.
Since the department began offering free CPR and AED training to city residents and businesses four years ago, 1,200 people have signed up, and classes are still being filled.
AED training, or automated external defibrillator training, teaches community members how to use defibrillators to control the heart.
The training sessions are part of Project Cardiac React, a pre-hospital cardiovascular initiative intended to reduce heart damage, increase survivability and lower health care cost for those who experience cardiac arrests within the city, according to the project mission statement.
Butler encourages city residents to sign up for the CPR and AED training by scheduling an appointment by calling (801) 254-0948.
“Being trained makes all the difference in the world when it means that someone will have a higher chance of survival,” he said.
