East Northport Cub Scouts Learn Hands-On CPR

A group of East Northport Cub Scouts learned important lifesaving skills, thanks to a recent visit from Huntington Community First Aid Squad.

HCFAS recently brought “Hands-Only CPR” to Christopher Maloney’s Cub Scouts Pack 005 Den meeting at Trinity Regional School. There, the boys, from grades 1-5, gave new meaning to Cub Scout pledge –“I promise to do my best to help other people” – by learning critical steps to help someone suffering a sudden cardiac arrest.

HCFAS Chairperson Kathy Castillo and committee members Laurie Hoffman, Israel Cortez, Rich Cortez and Carol Nucci trained 38 Cub Scouts and some of their siblings in the lifesaving procedure.

HCFAS members say Hands-Only CPR empowers bystanders to give life-sustaining compressions before emergency medical services arrive, and can save the life of a person in sudden cardiac arrest. They point out that there are nearly 400,000 cardiac arrests yearly in the United States and fewer than half of those victims receive CPR. Hands-only CPR involves no mouth-to-mouth contact – only pushing hard and fast on the chest.

Training young people has proven so successful that 20 states now teach Hands-Only CPR as part of their high school curriculum, according to HCFAS. New York may be next, with a new state law that directs the commissioner of education to develop a CPR-training curriculum.

Supporters say training can be conducted in 30 minutes.

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