June 1-7 is National CPR and AED Awareness Week! GCADA is teaming up with the American Red Cross to help Greater Cincinnati get this life-saving training to be prepared in an emergency. This year’s theme reminds everyone that CPR and AED are the “1-2 Punch to Save a Life”–together, these techniques can increase a victim’s chance of survival by up to 80%!

To help more people get trained, GCADA Dealer Members and the NADA Foundation have partnered to donate CPR Manikins to five Greater Cincinnati area non-profits. These will allow trainees to practice proper CPR technique on realistic manikins ranging from full bodied adults to adolescents and infants.

Across the country, automobile dealerships have provided an estimated 4,600 manikins worth approximately $3 million, for training of over 2 million people, potentially saving thousands of lives. Today, our member The BMW Store presented a set of four CPR manikins to the Cincinnati Museum Center, who will begin offering CPR training within the next month. Over the course of the next few weeks, four more Dealer Members will be presenting manikins, including:

• Walt Sweeney Ford to the Harrison Fire Department
• Performance Lexus to the City of Mason Community Emergency Response Team
• Jake Sweeney Kia Fiat Alfa Romeo to Fort Mitchell Fire Department
• Superior Honda to St. Aloysius Orphanage

To help get the word out, GCADA President Tom Fiehrer and Skip Tate from the American Red Cross filmed a public service announcement with the help of our friends at Spectrum–you can check it out on our YouTube channel here. Cardiac arrest can happen anywhere–on the job, at home, or in the classroom, and if you are prepared with proper training, you could save a life.

Cardiac arrest claims thousands of lives each year, and many victims die before reaching a hospital. This means that every second counts, and having someone trained in CPR and AED can make all the difference. To find out where to get American Red Cross training in CPR and AED, visit www.redcross.org/take-a-class, or call 1-800-RED-CROSS.