According to the American Heart Association, more than 350,000 EMS-assessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the United States each year. 

DHEC is pleased to support the American Heart Association and its mission to increase survival from cardiac arrest.

“When a person has a cardiac arrest, survival depends on immediately receiving CPR from someone nearby,” said Rich Wisniewski, MAEL, CPM, NRP, director of EMS and Trauma. 

Did you know that 70 percent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen in homes? Statistically speaking, if you are called on to give CPR in an emergency, you will most likely be trying to save the life of someone you love: a spouse, a parent, a child, or a friend.   

We are asking all members of our community to please take 90 seconds of your day to learn the lifesaving skills of Hands-Only CPR.  

“Hands-only CPR has been shown to be as effective in the first few minutes as conventional CPR for cardiac arrest,” Rich said.  

In less than two minutes, you can learn the two simple steps to Hands-Only CPR. Click here to watch the Hands-Only CPR video.