Public Health Nurse Maria Estrada demonstrates how to stop bleeding as part of a press conference at the USC Health Sciences Campus in Los Angeles on Monday, April 1, 2024. The event was held to announce the Community Readiness Champions Initiative, which is aimed at training residents and workers in multiple essential lifesaving skills. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced on Monday, April 1 its Community Readiness Champions Initiative with the goal of training county residents and workers in crucial lifesaving skills needed during emergencies and amidst disasters in which emergency responses are sometimes hampered.
The in-person and online trainings available to the public will include hands-only CPR and automated external defibrillator awareness, how to stop bleeding, mental health first aid and Naloxone training.
Among the speakers on Monday was Cash Hennessy, who went into cardiac arrest at 13 while playing in a football game in Rancho Cucamonga. He was saved by people in the stands who knew how to do CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The Public Health initiative comes after 506,332 Los Angeles County residents were trained in hands-only CPR in 2023.
People are instructed in CPR as part of a press conference at the USC Health Sciences Campus in Los Angeles on Monday, April 1, 2024. The event was held to announce the Community Readiness Champions Initiative, which is aimed at training residents and workers in multiple essential lifesaving skills. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Cash Hennessy, who went into cardiac arrest while playing in a football game in Rancho Cucamonga when he was 13-years old, and was saved by people in the stands coming down and doing CPR on him, speaks during a press conference at the USC Health Sciences Campus in Los Angeles on Monday, April 1, 2024. The event was held to announce the Community Readiness Champions Initiative, which is aimed at training residents and workers in multiple essential lifesaving skills. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Narcan was given out as part of a press conference at the USC Health Sciences Campus in Los Angeles on Monday, April 1, 2024. The event was held to announce the Community Readiness Champions Initiative, which is aimed at training residents and workers in multiple essential lifesaving skills. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
L.A. city Fire Chief Kristin Crowley speaks during a press conference at the USC Health Sciences Campus in Los Angeles on Monday, April 1, 2024. The event was held to announce the Community Readiness Champions Initiative, which is aimed at training residents and workers in multiple essential lifesaving skills. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Student Emily-Elizabeth Cardenas is instructed in CPR as part of a press conference at the USC Health Sciences Campus in Los Angeles on Monday, April 1, 2024. The event was held to announce the Community Readiness Champions Initiative, which is aimed at training residents and workers in multiple essential lifesaving skills. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Director of Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Barbara Ferrer speaks during a press conference at the USC Health Sciences Campus in Los Angeles on Monday, April 1, 2024. The event was held to announce the Community Readiness Champions Initiative, which is aimed at training residents and workers in multiple essential lifesaving skills. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Narcan was given out as part of a press conference at the USC Health Sciences Campus in Los Angeles on Monday, April 1, 2024. The event was held to announce the Community Readiness Champions Initiative, which is aimed at training residents and workers in multiple essential lifesaving skills. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone speaks during a press conference at the USC Health Sciences Campus in Los Angeles on Monday, April 1, 2024. The event was held to announce the Community Readiness Champions Initiative, which is aimed at training residents and workers in multiple essential lifesaving skills. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the Department of Public Health, said in a statement, “These new trainings will be essential investments in building prepared communities. Empowering people with a variety of lifesaving skills means they’ll be able to take action during emergencies and save lives.”
She noted that last year the Department of Public Health partnered with dozens of organizations “to make sure that more than 500,000 residents and workers in L.A. County were successfully trained in hands-only CPR through our Heart Heroes campaign.”
She said the first people responding to a crisis are often “family, friends, work colleagues, and neighbors.”
