Go 4 It: Community effort drives Detroit’s HEARTSafe designation

Go 4 It: Community effort drives Detroit’s HEARTSafe designation

When we put the word out that we were partnering with the City of Detroit to teach hands-only CPR, you responded in a big way.

We were surprised by the massive turnout and its impact in making Detroit the largest city to earn a HEARTSafe Community designation.

Communities that earn the designation have a documented increase in the number of people who know how to perform CPR and have an increased readiness for how to handle cardiac arrest events.

More than a thousand people showed up at the Northwest Activity Center in Detroit. People were happy to meet Local 4’s anchors and reporters but were even more excited to learn CPR.

And we were eager to train anyone who wanted to learn. Volunteers stayed late to make sure everyone who showed up learned to help save a life.

Dr. Rob Dunne, the medical director for the Detroit Fire Department, and Detroit Fire Commissioner Chuck Simms said the event made an important difference.

One factor in achieving the HEARTSafe designation is yearly CPR training for 15% of the community. It would be a challenging goal without the enthusiasm and support events like our Go 4 It CPR Day created.

It wasn’t just us, it took churches, schools, nonprofits -- the entire community to make it happen.