Butler Memorial Hospital offers cardiopulmonary resuscitation, also known as CPR, classes once a month aimed mainly at parents or child caretakers who want to learn how to perform the emergency procedure.

Sarah Tusing, American Heart Association instructor at Butler Health System, leads the sessions, and said that although they don’t offer the official certification required by many child care agencies, the class will teach people how to perform CPR on adults, children and infants.

“The majority of our students so far have been new or expecting parents,” Tusing said. “It started because we had a gentleman call looking for CPR training, and we had never had it before, but he needed it to watch his new grandchildren.”

According to Tusing, each class lasts about a 90 minutes and is limited to six participants. The people in the class will practice techniques on mannequins that Tusing said are able to respond accurately to the stimulation of the person practicing on them.

Additionally, people who take the class will also get a CPR book they can keep, which could help if they want to eventually take a certification class.

“It’s limited to six, so we can focus and make sure they are using good techniques,” Tusing said. “For anyone who is interested, this is a great opportunity to learn CPR.”

Tusing said the lessons taught at Butler Memorial Hospital’s sessions could help save a life, even though those who take it won’t be officially certified in CPR.

“Every minute that someone is unconscious, their chance of survival goes down 10%,” she said. “That’s why it’s so important to have the community trained up.”

The next CPR session is at 10 a.m. Feb. 9, and people can register to take the class at butlerhealthsystem.org under the events tab. The class costs $15 per person.

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