Mayor William Bell practices giving CPR on a dummy during today's city council meeting. Source: WBRC video
Several city councilors also received on-the-spot CPR training. Source: WBRC videoBIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) -
It's not every day you see Birmingham's mayor giving a dummy CPR.
Today, Mayor William Bell and several city council members got on-the-spot CPR training at the city council meeting.
It was part of an effort to raise awareness and train more people about the lifesaving technique. The ROC, or Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium, program at UAB has been working to certify more people in CPR.
The program's leadership says that training has tripled the number of local lives saved by someone giving or receiving CPR.
"We have become one of the premier cities in terms of leadership roles in the ROC organization, so I wanna thank all of you. We deeply appreciate it, and it is saving lives," Mayor Bell said.
Even with this improvement, Birmingham still trails much of the country in the rate of citizens who know and use CPR.
According to a UAB emergency physician at today's council meeting, only one in three cardiac arrest patients in Birmingham get CPR. In Seattle, that number is three out of four.
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