American Heart Association and LifeBridge Health CPR in Schools Initiative Helps Create the Next Generation of Life Savers
WHO: Baltimore City Public Schools receive 15 CPR in Schools Kits from LifeBridge Health and the American Heart Association.
WHAT: The American Heart Association together with LifeBridge Health will conduct a student assembly about Breanna's Law and Hands Only CPR. The American Heart Association will conduct a Hands-Only CPR Demonstration, as well as, along with LifeBridge Health, present 15 CPR in Schools Kits to Baltimore City Public Schools. 
WHEN: Tuesday April 24, 2018 10a.m.
WHERE: Mergenthaler Vocational High School, 3500 Hillen Rd, Baltimore, MD 21218
VISUAL AND INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES
Student Assembly and CPR in Schools Kit Presentation
"¢ Dr. Calin Maniu, LifeBridge Health Cardiovascular Institute
"¢ Kerry Johnston, Director Marketing and Communications, American Heart Association Greater Maryland
WHY: Kids learning bystander CPR may be the answer to reducing death from the more than 326,000 cardiac arrests that occur outside of a hospital each year. Sadly, most of those victims die, often because bystanders don't know how to start CPR, or are afraid they'll do something wrong. The American Heart Association believes kids are the answer to saving more lives. That's why the American Heart Association is partnering with LifeBridge Health to help prepare more students, their teachers and their families to save lives with its CPR in Schools initiative.
The donation to the Baltimore City schools is part of LifeBridge Health's partnership with the American Heart Association to provide training kits to more than 100 schools across Central Maryland. Over the past year, kits have been presented to public and private schools in Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Carroll County, Harford County and Howard County. 
"LifeBridge Health is proud to partner with the American Heart Association to bring CPR training to students in more than 100 schools across our region. Those of us privileged to work in health care have seen first-hand the life-saving power of CPR. As the current CEO of LifeBridge Health and a former national chairman of the American Heart Association, I believe this partnership integrates the goals of our organizations to improve health in our communities, in this case, by teaching our young people how to potentially save lives," says Neil Meltzer, president and CEO of LifeBridge Health.
Since 2011, the American Heart Association has been working with communities and other organizations to prepare more students, their teachers and families to save lives with CPR in Schools. Lawmakers in 38 states and Washington D.C. are requiring all students be trained in psychomotor skill-based CPR before graduating from high school. That means more than one million students will be trained in CPR each year, resulting in millions of qualified lifesavers in our communities. Teaching students in school how to administer CPR will help increase the chance that a victim of cardiac arrest has the help they need until paramedics arrive. To learn more about CPR in Schools legislation, go to http://beCPRsmart.org.
About CPR in Schools in Maryland
In 2014, Maryland Governor O'Malley signed the CPR in Schools Bill into law. The law states: "Beginning with students entering grade 9 in the 2015-2016 school year, to graduate from a public high school, a student shall complete instruction in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of and automated external defibrillator" The