Crime & Safety

Quogue Police to Launch 'Staying Alive' Campaign

Police officers will give 10-minute CPR training at the beach this summer.

Take 10 minutes to learn hands-only CPR and you can save a life. That is the message the intends to send to beachgoers this summer.

According to Lt. Christopher Isola, the Quogue Police Department is kicking off a new campaign that aims to teach as many people as possible a CPR technique that has been touted by the American Heart Association, called Hands-Only CPR. 

The method can increase a victim's chance of survival by three to four times, he said.

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"You can't mess this up," said Isola, who believes more people will jump in to help in an emergency if they know that they don't have to put their mouth on another person.

Basically, Isola said, the method requires chest compressions at a rate of 100 beats per minute. And for those who can't keep a beat, they can just do the compressions to the beat of the song, "Staying Alive" by the Bee Gees, said Isola.

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"We can teach this to kids and they can go home and show their parents. It's that simple," he said, adding that the Quogue police recorded two saves last year using CPR. 

The Hands-Only CPR method hit the mainstream in October 2009, when the American Heart Association released a video on how to perform Hands-Only CPR to "Staying Alive."

That video is part of the 10-minute presentation that Isola said his officers will present to beachgoers this summer, starting around July 4. "We will show a video and then let them have a chance to practice on a dummy," he said.

The police department is also looking to get local high school students involved, Isola said.

Chief Rita Wyatt said her corps also has plans to teach the method to residents and is working on a similar campaign this summer.

For more information on the Hands-Only CPR method, visit the American Heart Association website.


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