Learn CPR before Sox game

Illinois Heart Rescue and the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System will offer free instruction in compression-only CPR at Guaranteed Rate Field before the June 14 White Sox game. Compression-only CPR is simple to learn and the best way to help save the life of someone in sudden cardiac arrest.

“Increasing rates of bystander CPR is where the greatest increases in survival will come from,” said Terry Vanden Hoek, professor and head of emergency medicine in the UIC College of Medicine and project leader of Illinois Heart Rescue, a statewide initiative to increase survival for out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest. “Studies have shown that providing just chest compressions alone can double the person’s chance of survival.”

The event takes place from 5 to 7:30 p.m., before the White Sox play the Baltimore Orioles at Guaranteed Rate Field, 333 W. 35th St.

Illinois Heart Rescue is a statewide volunteer effort of EMS professionals, physicians, nurses, community groups, hospitals and governmental agencies to double survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest in Illinois. The program is sponsored by a $2.5 million grant from Medtronic Philanthropy.

Since 2012, Illinois Heart Rescue has trained thousands of Illinoisans in CPR and the use of AEDs, and in that time the statewide survival rate for out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest more than doubled, from 4 percent to 9.4 percent.

Participants will receive Illinois Heart Rescue CPR bracelets and CPR fans. A 60-second video on CPR will be shown during the game.