American Heart Association announces Mississippi’s CPR Training Centers with largest percent increases in numbers trained 2006

Pictured left to right are: Pat Kelly, Oktibbeha County Hospital; Debbie Coleman, Delta Rural Health Network; and Lamarr Gardner, American Heart Association Mississippi Regional Emergency Cardiovascular Care Committee Recruitment and Recognition Chair. Not pictured: Jim Fisackerly, Gulf Coast Veterans Healthcare Facility.

The Mississippi Region of the American Heart Association is pleased to announce the Training Centers with largest percent increases in CPR training numbers for fiscal year 2006 (July 2005 – June 2006). A Training Center (TC) is an organization, which has contracted with the American Heart Association to provide basic and/or advanced adult and pediatric life support training courses to the community it serves.

The mission of the American Heart Association Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC) Programs is to reduce disability and death from cardiac and respiratory emergencies and stroke by improving the Chain of Survival in every community. By placing the American Heart Association’s ECC Programs in the community as an integral part of its day-to-day life, public awareness and education in basic and advanced life support will increase, and more lives will be saved.

Training Centers were recognized at the American Heart Association Mississippi Training Center Coordinator Awards Luncheon held at the Jones County Junior College Advanced Technology Center in Ellisville. Centers recognized for largest percent increases in CPR training numbers include: Delta Rural Health Network (Kosciusko) – largest percent increase in healthcare training; Gulf Coast Veterans Healthcare Facility (Biloxi) - largest percent increase lay credentialed training and largest percent increase in total training; and, Oktibbeha County Hospital (Starkville) - largest percent increase in community training. Mississippi’s 44 Training Centers trained 81,256 people in the life-saving skills of basic and advanced life support in fiscal year 2006.

Throughout the United States, American Heart Association’s basic and advanced life support courses are used to train more than nine million people each year. The courses are provided through a network of over 3,300 Training Centers and over 306,000 Instructors. The American Heart Association’s courses have been taught throughout the U.S. for more than 30 years.

For more information on how to find a CPR or First Aid course in your area, visit the American Heart Association’s website at www.americanheart.org or dial our toll-free hotline at 877-AHA-4CPR.