Free CPR classes coming to Cape

“Ah, ha, ha, ha, sta yin’ alive, stayin’ alive” — if you can keep that rhythm, you just might be able to save a life after attending a free “sidewalk CPR” class at an upcoming Cape Girardeau farmers markets.

Cape Girardeau Fire Department fire chief Travis Hollis said the PulsePoint app, launched last week as a joint effort between the fire department and Saint Francis Medical Center, helps community members perform hands-only compressions, also known as “sidewalk CPR,” for 7 to 8 minutes.

To help train more community members in this lifesaving technique, Hollis said, community wide CPR training events are on the calendar.

“Farmers markets are probably our best venue during the pandemic,” he said.

PulsePoint is a situational awareness tool for the community, Hollis added.

In addition to notifying users of cardiac arrest events, the app allows users to see what the fire department is responding to.

“It’s like having a scanner in your hands,” Hollis said.

The “sidewalk CPR” classes will be held at the informational booth at the Cape Riverfront Market, and at the community education tent at the Thursday market in West Park Mall’s parking lot, organizers said.

These 5-minute sessions will include two steps, Hollis said: “First, call 9-1-1. Then, we teach the landmarks in the chest, and the pumping technique. Hard and fast.”

The app includes a metronome-like feature that prompts when to push, Hollis said.

“Or, we tell people to do it to the beat of [the Bee Gees song] ‘Stayin’ Alive,’” he said. “That’s 100 beats as well.”

Hollis said the hands-only method works well to keep oxygenated blood moving from the heart through the body to the brain, and if performed correctly can sustain a patient for 7 to 8 minutes.

The department’s response time goal is 4 minutes within the city, Hollis said, which doesn’t include dispatch time.

“Hopefully, we’ll be getting there right in time to take over,” he said.

“Every minute that goes by in a cardiac arrest situation means the survivability rate goes down 7 to 10%,” Hollis said. “Without someone pumping on your chest, chances of survival start to become pretty slim. It’s important to have people in households and community responders to help us out.”

The PulsePoint app and the classes are free.

Emily Vines, Cape Riverfront Market manager, said PulsePoint is a great fit for the market’s educational outreach.

“If an accident happens at home, everyone needs to be informed as to what they can do,” Vines said.

Cape Riverfront Market is held from 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays at 35 S. Spanish St. in Cape Girardeau.

Marilyn Peters, market manager for the Thursday afternoon farmers market, said she’s glad to provide the space for firefighters to talk directly with people and demonstrate the technique.

Cape Girardeau Fire Department battalion chief and EMS Dustin Koerber said the free “sidewalk-CPR” sessions will be held at the West Park Mall market from noon to 5 p.m. this Thursday and Aug. 27, and Cape Riverfront Market from 8 a.m. until noon this Saturday and Aug. 29.

“To follow up on and expand the education, knowledge and skills of those willing, we are offering the full CPR classes to the first 10 people each of the below days,” Koerber added.

• 4 to 8 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Shawnee Park Center
• 6 to 10 p.m. Sept. 19 at the Osage Centre
• 4 to 8 p.m. Sept. 28 at the Osage Centre
• 1 to 5 p.m. Oct. 4 at the Shawnee Park Center

Classes are provided free of charge through the cooperation of Cape Girardeau Parks and Rec department, Saint Francis Medical Center, Saint Francis Foundation and Cape Girardeau Fire Department, Koerber added.

Participants are asked to sign up for the PulsePoint app.

More information is on Facebook @CapeFD.