Marshfield Clinic is offering free community CPR sessions Thursday, Feb. 16, at Marshfield Clinic Wausau Center. The session will be from 5-7:30 p.m. in the Clinic’s Plaza Room, 2727 Plaza Drive. Enter the Clinic through the West Entrance.

“We are offering these free sessions in honor of Sue Teichmiller’s recent health struggle,” said Jenny Dodge, physician assistant, friend and co-worker of Teichmiller’s at Marshfield Clinic. “Her life was initially saved by her husband and a family friend doing CPR until the ambulance arrived. We feel it’s vitally important to spread the knowledge of how to perform CPR to make it more widely-known in our community.”

The class being taught is the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Family and Friends CPR course, which has been updated to reflect new science in the 2015 AHA Guidelines Update for CPR and Emergency Cardiovascular Care. This is not a certification course. It is designed for members of the general public to be able to perform basic lifesaving skills. This video-based, classroom session teaches:

• Adult Hands-Only CPR and automated external defibrillator
• Adult CPR with Breaths
• Mild and Severe Airway Block: How to Help a Choking Adult
• Child CPR and AED
• Mild and Severe Airway Block: How to Help a Choking Child
• Infant CPR
• Mild and Severe Airway Block: How to Help a Choking Infant

All of the modules will be covered. Participants may choose to participate in or observe each module. Skills are taught using the AHA’s research-proven practice-while-watching technique, which allows participants to practice on a CPR training manikin while skills are demonstrated in the video.

“CPR is easy to learn and perform and almost anyone can do it,” Dodge said. “The goal of this is to help participants to feel confident they can take some action in case of an emergency. CPR saves lives, and the more people who know it, the more lives can be saved.”

The maximum number of participants per session is 20. Materials are provided at the site. Pre-registration is required. To register, use the SurveyMonkey link below:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/S2VCG39

Future free CPR sessions are planned for Marshfield Clinic centers in Eau Claire, Marshfield, Minocqua, Park Falls, Rice Lake, Stevens Point and Wausau. The Clinic’s Department of Education plans to offer sessions at all these sites on quarterly basis. For more information call 715-389-7559.