Detroit Evening Report: Detroit Fire Department offering CPR, AED training to DDOT employees

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Detroit Fire Department Training Division Lt. Virgil Wyatt teaches DDOT employees how to correctly use the AEDs.

Detroit Fire Department Training Division Lt. Virgil Wyatt teaches DDOT employees how to correctly use the AEDs.

The Detroit Fire Department is working to train more city employees and residents in hands-only CPR.

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As part of the city’s ongoing effort to make Detroit a “HEARTSafe Community,” the department is teaming up with the Detroit Department of Transportation and various other city departments to train employees and ensure municipal buildings and buses are equipped with automated external defibrillators, or AEDs.

If performed immediately, CPR and AED use can double or triple a person’s chance of survival from an out of hospital cardiac arrest, according to the American Heart Association.

DDOT, under the leadership of Interim Director G. Michael Staley, was one of the first city departments to request its Transportation Equipment Operators (TEOs) be trained in hands-only CPR.

“Having our TEOs trained in hands-only CPR and AED use can literally mean the difference between life and death,” said Staley in a statement. “The response we’ve gotten from our employees is very encouraging. Safety is the number one priority at DDOT, and this training underscores that commitment.”

Last year the city joined the Pulse Point AED app that shows a registry of publicly available AEDs in the area. To join a training course for CPR or to learn more about how to use an AED, visit the city of Detroit website or call 313-596-2959 to submit a request for a training session in your neighborhood.

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Author

  • WDET reporter and producer Hernz Laguerre Jr.
    Hernz Laguerre Jr. is a Multimedia Journalist at 101.9 WDET. He is one of the co-host for "Detroit Evening Report," one of the weekend anchors for "Weekend Edition," the producer for our political podcast, "MichMash," and reports on arts, culture and politics.