Could your child save a life? American Heart Association teaches Knoxville children CPR

 If your child saw someone in a medical emergency, would they know what to do? From June 2 to 4, the American Heart Association is teaching hands-only CPR to children and parents and letting them try it on mannequins at Safety City in Knoxville.

The AHA said that, while they can’t be certified yet, children as young as nine can learn to help save lives through hands-only CPR.

“We just have heard stories where kids learn hands-only CPR and then something happens in the home, and it’s a grandparent, and they’re the reason why their grandparents survived,” said Nicole Gross, community impact director for the Greater Knoxville American Heart Association.

One of the most important lessons is just calling 911.

“A lot of times we have to also teach it’s important to leave the person in that state of distress because calling 911 is so important,” Gross said. “And for kids trying to get the order of the numbers correct so they know it’s calling 911, not being scared about calling 911 because it is that first chain of survival. And then for them being comfortable to come down on the ground and work on a mannequin.”

She continued, “If they can be that first person to call 911, they are truly helping to save someone’s life.”

Bystander CPR increases out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival by up to 81%, according to American Medical Response Knoxville.