During a pop-up class Aug. 2 in the Peoria County Courthouse square, people learned that CPR is a lot easier than it used to be.
For bystander CPR, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation is out. Studies have shown chest compressions alone can greatly increase a person’s chance of surviving cardiac arrest, said Roland Tenley, the Peoria Fire Department’s EMS quality assurance officer, who hosted the pop-up clinic.
That’s good news because people are more likely to perform CPR if they don’t have to do mouth-to-mouth, said Tenley.
“Mouth-to-mouth scares people, especially if the victim is someone they don’t know,” he said. “Now they can just do chest compressions.”