FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact:

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Communications and Marketing

Sheila Champlin – (901) 448-4957 or

Dena Owens – (901) 448-4072

 

 

 

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy

Offers Free CPR Awareness Class during

Annual Health and Wellness Fair

______________________________________________________________

 

 

Memphis, Tenn. (January 29, 2009) – On Saturday, February 21, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) College of Pharmacy will offer a free, updated cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) awareness class during the annual UTHSC Health and Wellness Fair.   Open to everyone interested in emergency resuscitation, the CPR awareness class will be taught by more than a dozen UTHSC College of Pharmacy faculty and students who are trained and certified by the American Heart Association, which updated its CPR guidelines in 2005.  

 

The CPR awareness training and health fair event is scheduled from 9 a.m. until noon at Independent Presbyterian Church, 4738 Walnut Grove Road.  Three one-hour long CPR classes are scheduled for 9, 10 and 11 a.m.  Participants for each CPR class must preregister by calling (901) 448-1129 or e-mailing cpr@uthsc.edu.  Free information on how to prevent heart disease, strokes, diabetes and kidney disease will also be available for participants.

 

This university-sponsored effort is a convenient, no-cost way for Memphians to learn about CPR for the first time or to reacquaint those who are already familiar with the process.  It includes the latest techniques that could save the life of a family member, co-worker or anyone in need of resuscitation. 

 

According to the American Heart Association, about 80 percent of hospital cardiac arrests occur in private or residential settings.  If bystander CPR is not provided, a victim’s chance of survival falls 7 to 10 percent for every minute of delay until defibrillation.

 

The health fair will be held in conjunction with the American Heart Association’s “Go Red for Women” campaign, an effort to promote awareness about heart disease, the No. 1 killer of American women.  

 

As the flagship statewide academic health system, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center is focused on a four-tier mission of education, research, clinical care and public service, all in support of a single goal: to improve the health of Tennesseans.  Offering a broad range of postgraduate training opportunities, the main campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy.  UTHSC has additional College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy campuses in Knoxville, and a College of Medicine campus in Chattanooga.  For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.   

 

# # #