Four mannequins were lined up on the floor of a common area in the medical mall of Madigan Army Medical Center. The mannequins were being used to give CPR demonstrations and to allow non-medical spectators a chance to perform CPR.

"A big portion of the public does not know what to do in the case of a medical emergency," said Julie Vasquez, a CPR instructor at the McChord Field Clinic. "We wanted to offer people an opportunity to perform CPR and see how simple it is."

Vasquez spent the majority of Tuesday educating people about CPR to commemorate CPR-AED Awareness Week, which was mandated by Congress in 2007.

From June 1 to 7, the American Heart Association is attempting to reach one million people and challenge them to learn how to save people with medical emergencies. 

Statistics show that each year in the United States Emergency Medical Services treats about 300,000 victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, according to findings by the American Heart Association.

Besides the educational event, at MAMC there are about 350 CPR instructors who teach about 1,500 classes each year. CPR is offered at the hospital for people who do not have contact with children. But anyone can learn CPR, Vasquez said.  For folks not eligible for the class at MAMC, there are several other locations in the area at which the course may be taken.  (See below for a list of possible locations.)

The American Heart Association also offers a CPR Anytime Kit that includes an inflatable Mini Anne CPR Manikin, a DVD and two reference cards that can be purchased to learn CPR at home.  The kit allows families, friends and the public to learn how to do CPR in 22 minutes.

Sgt. Emmanuel Cruz, an infantry soldier assigned to the Warrior Transition Battalion, took an interest in the event.

"I was a medical transporter," Cruz said.  "This is a great way for me to get a refresher course in CPR."

The event was open to the public in an attempt to bring awareness of the need to know CPR to dependents, military servicemembers who are not in the medical field, and government service employees, said Cheri Randall, the life support program manager at MAMC.

"We want to help people get the information they need to perform CPR in their home," Randall said.  "We want to do some good for individuals who are not as close to a hospital as they would like to be or who have young children."

LOCAL CPR CLASSES

• American Heart Association
  708 Broadway, Suite 330, Tacoma
  (253) 272-7854

• American Red Cross
  1235 S. Tacoma Way, Tacoma
  (253) 474-0600

• Tacoma Fire Department
  Free CPR classes taught by the Tacoma Fire
  Department to citizens living in Tacoma,
  Fife or Fircrest
  (253) 594-7979

• CPR First Aid Co.
  2919 S. 40th St., Tacoma
  (253) 948-5192

• Cascade Healthcare Services
  11315 Bridgeport Way S.W., Lakewood
  (877) 277-6778

• Lakewood Fire District 2
  10928 Pacific Highway S.W., Lakewood
  (253) 582-4600

• Pierce County Fire District 5
  10222 Bujacich Rd. N.W., Gig Harbor
  (253) 851-3111

• Central Pierce Fire & Rescue
  9813 128th St. E., Puyallup