New kit teaches parents how to save a baby's life - Heart and Stroke Foundation launches program to teach infant CPR at home

OTTAWA, July 9, 2013 /CNW/ - The Heart and Stroke Foundation has launched the bilingual Infant CPR Anytime^® personal learning kit to teach parents, families and friends how to use infant CPR to save a baby from choking or cardiac arrest.

Accidents and unintentional injuries, including drowning, suffocation and choking, are a leading cause of death among infants and children. These are situations where cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first aid can help save a child's life. But too many Canadians don't know what to do in a cardiac emergency.

Shannon Bannen understands first-hand how important it is to know CPR. Just weeks after giving birth to a healthy baby boy, she had to test the limits of her courage to save his life. One morning, seven-week-old Keegan started fussing and was struggling to breathe. Quick to act, Shannon told her husband to call 9-1-1. Then, within seconds, Keegan stopped breathing altogether and his heart stopped beating. "That's when I started CPR on him," says Shannon.

Doctors told Shannon that CPR saved Keegan's life. "He was never without oxygen as long as I was doing those CPR rescue breaths," she says. "To look at him today, you'd never guess he experienced any trauma."

Learning CPR takes very little time and can save a life. The Heart and Stroke Foundation's Infant CPR Anytime kit includes an instructional DVD, an inflatable mini-mannequin, and a user-friendly instruction manual with photographs.

"Nothing is more tragic than the loss of a child," says Heart and Stroke Foundation spokesperson Dr. Alan de Caen. "Taking 20 minutes to learn CPR to save a child is worth every second and every minute."

Anyone can learn CPR - and everyone should!  For more information on the Heart and Stroke Foundation's Infant CPR Anytime kit, or to order ($35 plus taxes and shipping), visit heartandstroke.ca/infantcpr  

About the Heart and Stroke Foundation
The Heart and Stroke Foundation, a volunteer-based health charity, leads in eliminating heart disease and stroke, reducing their impact through initiatives to prevent disease, save lives and promote recovery. Healthy lives free of heart disease and stroke. Together we will make it happen. Heartandstroke.ca

SOURCE: Heart and Stroke Foundation

For more information or interviews, contact:

Jane-Diane Fraser

Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada

613-569-4361, ext 273

[email protected]