05/03/2011
A SUNY Cortland athletic trainer is asking students, faculty and staff to take a minute out of their day to learn how to save someone’s life.
By watching a 68-second video on the two basic elements of hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), members of the College community can participate in the “Save a Life Challenge” and prepare themselves to help anyone struck by sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), according to Steven Meyer, a trainer and coordinator of Cortland’s public access defibrillator program.
Meyer’s goal is to get half of the SUNY Cortland campus to view the video at least once by the end of this week. He is challenging other schools in the SUNY system to see if they can match it.
“If we can get an average of 3,000 students from each SUNY campus to watch this video, there will be over 180,000 people nationwide who will learn CPR and how to save someone’s life with just their hands,” said Meyer, who is in charge of 82 defibrillators located around campus.
“The video will educate people about SCA. It teaches them how to notice if someone is suffering from SCA, who to call for help and how to perform a simple hands-only CPR technique.”
The video shortens CPR down to two critical steps: Call 9-1-1 and begin chest compressions.
People can access the video through a link located on My RedDragon. After signing in, click on the Campus Life tab, which will take viewers to the American Heart Association website, where the video is located.
The website will track how many people watch the video through Friday, May 6.
Meyer is trying to get the athletic teams, the Health and Kinesiology departments, various clubs, fraternities and sororities around campus to watch the video and educate themselves in CPR.
“My idea is to get the other SUNY schools to try and meet or beat the amount of people who watch the video here at SUNY Cortland,” he said.