Heart association trains Freeporters in CPR 

At the Long Island Sports Complex in Freeport, the bright green synthetic grass with white painted lines is typically used for playing sports. However, the large indoor field took on a new role as the American Heart Association set up training mannequins and AEDs, for their Hands-Only CPR event to educate the public during National CPR and AED Awareness Week.   

With one hand over the other and his fingers tightly interlocked, Steve Tannenbaum, a CPR instructor for the American Heart Association, pressed up and down rapidly over the chest of a training mannequin, applying one-inch-deep compressions, as if he were attempting to make a real malfunctioned heart beat again.

“Sudden cardiac arrest kills 350,000 Americans every year,” said Tannenbaum, who is also a survivor of cardiac arrest. “We can change this by educating the public, raising awareness, teaching CPR and getting immediate availability of AED’s.”

Tannenbaum explained to the attendees the need for CPR to artificially pump a heart that stops beating. If performed immediately, CPR can double or triple a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival because it artificially pumps the heart. CPR alone does not stop cardiac arrest. An AED, which is also required to reboot the heart, provides audio and visual instructions on how to apply it to save lives. People lose a 10 percent chance of life for every minute that goes by without CPR and defibrillation. If an ambulance shows up after eight or nine minutes, 90 percent of people will die.

“I am a very fortunate survivor of cardiac arrest because I was in a place where people knew CPR,” said Tannenbaum, who shared his survival story with the audience.

Town of Hempstead Councilwoman Erin King Sweeney invited the Hempstead medical director, Dr. David Neubert, who informed the audience about his collaborative work with King-Sweeney, Mercy Medical Center, St. Francis Hospital and Cardiac Science, to bring forth a health initiative of 110 AEDs, which are placed throughout the town at pools, beaches, parks, senior centers and the sanitation department building.

“Saving a life is a lot easier than most people think,” Neubert said. “The more people that we can get aware and taught and comfortable, the better chance that someone will survive.”

For more information about hands-only CPR, visit; heart.org/handsonlycpr. To find a CPR class near you, visit heart.org/findacourse.