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EMS shows how saving lives now even easier
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Times photo: Anthony Wahl EMT Intermediates Angie Mueller and Eric Albright from Green County EMS demonstrate cardio-cerebral resuscitation (CCR), a newer approach to patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The technique has been shown to improve rates of survival. The GCEMS will host three training sessions on CCR next week.
MONROE - The hands-only method of resuscitation, cardio-cerebral resuscitation (CCR), has become a popular and preferred way for members of the public to save a life.

The CCR method is much like the well-known cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), except no breathing into the victim's mouth is required, and it takes less than an hour to learn. CCR was been found to triple the chances of survival for a person whose heart has stopped, and, unlike CPR, it involves no mouth-to-mouth contact.

Dan Nufer, chief of Green County Emergency Medical Service, is pleased with the local response to learning CCR.

"Last year was very good, very successful," he said. "Many of those people went back to their work and recommended the course."

About 50 people took the course last year, Nufer said. GCEMS began teaching the method in 2009.

Upon the recommendations of their employees, some business owners asked GCEMS to teach the classes at their work places, Nufer said.

Nufer noted the accounting firm of Reffue, Pas, Jacobson and Koster and Badger State Ethanol as two of the businesses that had on-site classes for their employees.

Next week, GCEMS will again be holding CCR classes for the public to learn this new method. Classes are scheduled for 8 a.m. Tuesday, May 24; at noon Wednesday, May 25; and at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 26.

The lessons are free and take about an hour. Walk-in attendance is welcomed, but advanced notice is appreciated, Nufer said.

For more information, call the GCEMS office at (608) 329-4367. GCEMS is located on 12th Street at 19th Avenue in Monroe.

Green County EMS is a private, non-profit, volunteer community service organization founded in 1974. Its website is www.greencountyems.org