Harpswell residents of any age are urged to attend a community cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) class planned for Monday, February 9, at the old Orr's Island Schoolhouse.
The Family & Friends CPR Class is designed to teach people of any age basic life-saving skills. Topics covered include adult Hands-Only CPR, child CPR with breaths, use of an automatic defibrillator on adults and children, infant CPR and relief of choking in an adult, child or infant.
Taught by volunteers from the Orr's and Bailey Islands Fire Department, the American Heart Association program includes video instruction and hands-on practice using adult and child mannequins.
The class is recommended for any community member who would like to know CPR, but does not require an official certification card. It is open to people of all ages.
The program will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. on Monday, February 9, at the old Orr's Islands Schoolhouse, located next to the Orr's and Bailey Islands Fire Department on Harpswell Islands Road, Route 24, Orr's Island.
Advance registration is required. To register, e-mail cpr@obifd.org or call Jim Whittaker at 207-833-3013. A $5 optional contribution will be accepted to cover the cost of course materials.
The class is part of an effort by the town's three volunteer fire and rescue departments to make Harpswell a Maine HeartSafe Community, which includes widespread training in CPR and broad availability of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) at public locations throughout the community. The goal is improve the “Chain of Survival” for people suffering from cardiac or breathing problems by providing help before emergency crews can arrive to render assistance.
Other classes providing higher levels of training, leading to official certification for both community members and health care professionals, will be offered throughout the year.
More information of about the program is available at www.obifd.org or by calling or e-mailing Whittaker.
Harpswell's three fire and rescue departments include Cundy's Harbor Volunteer Fire Department, which serves all of Great Island from the Brunswick line to Stevens Corner Road on Route 24; Harpswell Neck Fire and Rescue, which serves all areas off of Route 123, including
Mountain Road west of the Ewing Narrows bridge; and the Orr's and Bailey Islands Fire Department, which serves Orr's, Bailey and part of Great Island south of Stevens Corner road and east of the Ewing Narrows bridge.
More information about the three departments, including how to join as a volunteer, is available at www.harpswellfireandrescue.org.