Hands-only CPR is chest compressions. Experts say the technique is easy for anyone to learn and has proven as effective as traditional CPR in the first few minutes of a cardiac arrest emergency.

According to the American Heart Association, more than 70% percent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in homes. About 40% of people who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest get needed help before emergency professionals arrive. Knowing hands-only CPR can mean survival for someone in such a situation.

The American Heart Association’s hands-only CPR protocol involves two steps: First, call 911 if someone suddenly collapses. Second, start chest compressions, pushing hard and fast in the center of the person’s chest at the rate of 100 to 120 beats per minute.

Experts recommend using a familiar song with the right beat, such as the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive,” to maintain the rate of compressions.

“I will not be singing any of these, in case anybody was wondering,” Cashin said this past week during a brief presentation on the program.

At-Large school board member Peter Argeropoulos said the program is another example of the school district working with different parts of the community — in this case, the fire department — to bring something to city students that benefits not only themselves but their families and community.

“I appreciate the fire department willing to come in and kind of help us out with this,” Argeropoulos said. “It makes schools feel less like a place that we go just to be educated, but more of a true community center for everybody here.”

The pilot program was approved on a voice vote.

Community schools launch

The Manchester School District and Manchester Proud are holding a kickoff for a new grant-funded $2.5 million Community Schools project on Monday from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the SNHU Millyard building at 75 South Commercial St.

The project is expected to be up and running by the start of the 2024-2025 school year at Gossler Park and Beech Street elementary schools.

The event will include remarks from Mayor Jay Ruais, Superintendent Jennifer Chmiel Gillis and Christine Brennan, the state’s deputy education commissioner.

In December, Manchester was awarded a $2.5 million community schools grant by the U.S. Department of Education.

City school officials say the funding will allow the district to scale up and expand work under the community schools initiative.

Community schools offer multiple services to students beyond education, including health and nutrition services. Manchester is among 30 districts and organizations nationwide to share grants totaling $74 million.

The Queen City was the only community in New Hampshire to receive funding.

“We understand that when a student’s basic needs are not met, they are not able to reach their full learning potential,” Gillis said in a statement. “This grant funding will allow us to have a greater impact, not just on our students, but on their families and the surrounding community as well.”

Manchester school officials worked with Manchester Proud to develop the grant application.

Nonprofit sober home

Victoria Sullivan was back at City Hall to speak to aldermen recently, not as a candidate for mayor but on behalf of her new venture — co-chair of Freedom Movement NH, a sober home operating out of 99-101 Manchester St.

Sullivan said she and co-chair Steve Richard didn’t know each other a year ago, when they discovered they both were looking to open a faith-based sober home.

“Our faith is important to each of us,” Sullivan told members of the Special Committee on Alcohol, Other Drugs and Youth Services. “I started having some conversations around the city about my ideas on how we can combat this crisis that we call the opioid epidemic, which is also a mental health crisis and a homeless crisis.

“Through mutual friends, we found each other. Steve happened to have a place that he had been looking at, so everything sort of came together for us.”

Freedom Movement NH officially launched in August and recently received its 501©(3) certification.

“We are officially a nonprofit,” Sullivan said. “We are a New Hampshire charitable organization as well. There are a lot of sober homes, but many of them are for-profit. There is nothing wrong with that. We just do things differently.”

“We concentrate on ... a whole-person approach to liberation from addiction,” Sullivan told aldermen. “Our mission statement is that Freedom Movement NH is to provide transitional housing with peer support and the connections to wrap-around services in order to liberate and restore individuals experiencing homelessness and recovery from addiction in the Greater Manchester area.

“We are able to equip individuals experiencing transition with the extra time and resources needed to experience true freedom from homelessness and addiction and live recovered, healed, and restored lives,” Sullivan said.

The operation is run by volunteers. Currently, FMNH provides sober living for men only, Sullivan said. Participants must have at least 30 days recovery before coming to the facility.

Besides being required to attend meetings that support their sobriety, residents must work or — if unable to work — or volunteer in the community.

Sullivan said that because many of the men come directly from 30- or 60-day rehabilitation programs, they receive “a two-week housing scholarship while we get them on their feet.”

“Our goal is to stop the cycle of addiction that puts these men back on the streets.”

Sullivan said the program currently has 12 men enrolled, with room for 24.

“We are truly a movement,” Sullivan said. “We are constantly reevaluating what we do and making changes to accommodate the individual while maintaining the safety of the group.

“We understand that we will not always be their last stop before securing permanent housing and healthy lives — sometimes we will be their first house, sometimes their third, sometimes we will lose them back to the streets,” Sullivan said.

“Our hope is that we plant the seeds of success in every life we touch.”