Doctor helps Pinellas homeless shelter residents learn CPR—and their success rate is impressive

Doctor helps Pinellas homeless shelter residents learn CPR—and their success rate is impressive
You frequently hear that learning CPR can save a life. One small community in Pinellas County is proving that’s true over and over again.

Dr. Sandra Grosvenor is the Health Outreach Coordinator at Pinellas Hope, an emergency homeless shelter.

A few years ago, she had the idea to teach the staff and the residents CPR.

“Because they may be able to save one another’s life,” Grosvenor said.

Grosvenor keeps CPR training kits provided by the American Heart Association on hand so she can train whenever the opportunity arises.

“I’m always amazed to see how receptive the clients are,” she added.

In the three years since Grosvenor began training everyone who wanted to learn, seven people have needed CPR and five of them have lived.

That’s a 70% survival rate. And considering only 10% of people who suffer a sudden cardiac event outside of hospital setting survive, those numbers are very impressive.

“It’s a win-win. They learn and the satisfaction I receive it’s phenomenal. It’s beyond words.”