Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation week takes off nationally on June 1 and runs through June 7. Nashville is definitely onboard for such an important cause and our local ambassador/spokeswoman, Dr. Katherine Y. Brown, has already got started. Dr. Brown is founder of Learn CPR America, LLC and the current Tennessee Advocacy Subcommittee chairwoman for the American Heart Association. She has traveled nationally and internationally teaching free CPR classes.

This multi-faceted, resourceful woman often includes her family in the training and awareness raising efforts. Heart disease is no respecter of persons. It affects everyone, so Dr. Brown includes everyone. She begins her day early with prayer and meditation, then double checks her full day’s schedule making sure her family has what they need to assure a successful day. However, she does none of what she does alone. She is married to Irving Brown and has four beautiful children, ages eight, 15, 16 and 25.

There’s no denying that CPR can help save lives. So why aren’t more people willing to learn this life-saving skill? As an advocate for CPR (Learn CPR America, LLC) and a volunteer for the American Heart Association for a good part of her life, Brown believes that everyone should strive to inform the public about the life-saving potential of performing CPR.

Here are two simple steps to aid heart attack victims: 1) immediately dial 911, and 2) push hard and fast in the center of the chest. These simple steps could save thousands of lives. Over 400,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the U.S yearly?

If performed immediately, CPR can double or triple a person’s chance of survival. Sadly, that happens less than 10% of the time outside of the hospital. This number is disproportionately higher in lower socioeconomic and African American and Latino communities. According to the AHA, the survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Nashville is only five percent. Even in major cities like Chicago, Atlanta and Charlotte, the survival rates could be vastly improved if more people knew how to perform CPR.

We can and should do better. National CPR Week, June 1-7, provides all of us with a unique opportunity to raise awareness about the life-saving potential of CPR in Nashville and around the nation. I urge you to support this week of awareness.

“In the past four months alone, I’ve done over 100 training classes with a minimum of 30 people or more each,” said Dr. Brown.