FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:    Captain Dave Wheaton, Lee County Public Safety/EMS
                (941) 335-1661

FORT MYERS, Fla. (November 21, 2001) – Lee County Emergency Medical Services will be offering CPR classes on Saturdays beginning Dec. 1 as a way to teach this life-saving technique to as many residents as possible.

The classes will run through January, or longer if there is significant interest. The cost is $15 per person.

They will last approximately three hours and be taught by Lee County EMS Paramedics at Lee County EMS Headquarters, 14752 Ben C. Pratt/Six Mile Cypress Parkway, next to the Lee County Sheriffs Office. For dates, times and to sign up, call 335-1649 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

What would you do if someone you love suffered a heart attack? Hopefully you would know how to perform CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).

The life-saving techniques of CPR are simple to learn and will prepare you for cardiac emergencies that can happen anytime, anywhere, to anyone. It will take about three hours, you will receive a participation card, and who knows...you might one day save the life of a loved one.

Coronary heart disease causes 500,000 deaths a year and is the single leading cause of death in America today. Sudden cardiac death occurs about 700 times per day in the United States.

Early CPR and rapid defibrillation combined with early advanced care can result in long-term survival rates as high as 40 percent. The value of early CPR by bystanders is that it can buy time until EMS personnel equipped with a defibrillator arrive.