UPDATE 3/17/16:
Please add to your call list these Education Committee Vice-Chairs and Ranking Members:
Senator Gary Winfield- (860) 240-0393
Representative Robert Sanchez– (860) 240-8585
Senator Toni Boucher– (860) 240-8865
Representative Gail Lavielle– (860) 240-8700
The entire American Heart Association You’re the Cure volunteers, and local volunteer and staff teams worked very hard last year to ensure that CPR training was required in the public school curriculum in Connecticut.
Bystander CPR was used in Connecticut just this week to help save a life! See the story in the Fairfield Sun.
Now there is a bill before the CT Education Committee being considered that would eliminate that critical lifesaving requirement. The committee Co-Chairs Senator Slossberg and Representative Fleischman need to hear from passionate advocates.
It’s very simple, all you need to do is this…
Call one office and then the other:
Senator Gayle Slossberg – (860) 240-0482
Representative Andy Fleischman – (860) 240-0429
When the phone is answered, simply say the following:
- Hi, my name is ______________ and I’m a Connecticut resident. I’d like to leave a message for [Senator Gayle Slossberg or Representative Andy Fleischman].
- As an advocate for the American Heart Association, I would like our state to maintain CPR training in the public school curriculum.
- You can add in any personal piece here or one of the below statistics:
- CT was the 24th state to make CPR training a requirement. Nearly 383,000 people have cardiac arrest outside of a hospital every year, and only 11% survive, most likely because they didn’t receive timely CPR.
- Estimates show that the per-student cost for the training is approximately $1.00.
- The amount of time required to offer effective CPR training is 30 minutes.
- I look forward to the state’s continued support of and maintaining CPR training in the public school curriculum. Thanks for your time!
You might be asked for your address (to confirm you are indeed a CT resident.)
If you have a chance to elaborate, here are some additional points to support our ‘ask’:
- Given right away, CPR doubles or triples survival rates.
- Teaching students CPR could save thousands of lives by filling our communities with lifesavers – those trained to give sudden cardiac arrest victims the immediate help they need to survive until EMTs arrive.
- Many schools have been able to provide training at no cost using support from businesses, foundations, civic organizations and public agencies.
Thank you for your support to ensure a safer Connecticut!
Please join You’re the Cure online to receive alerts to help pass lifesaving legislation in Connecticut! www.yourethecure.org