National CPR and AED Awareness Week

Jeff Backus is a Red Cross volunteer blood donor ambassador and medical screener with the Louisville Area Chapter. As a screener, he is one of the volunteers who takes a blood donor’s demographic information, does their medical screening and asks health history questions when they donate blood. When he’s not volunteering, Jeff advocates for the importance of CPR.

After surviving two cardiac arrests thanks to the quick action and compassion of strangers, Jeff knows firsthand the importance of being CPR trained: "I tell people to learn CPR, because the life you save may be mine.”

In 2014, Jeff was running in Cherokee Park in Louisville when he went into cardiac arrest and collapsed.

“There was an ER nurse who had been out running, training for the Ironman, who came up on me," Jeff explained. The nurse gave Jeff hands-only CPR for 20 minutes until the EMT’s arrived and were able to take Jeff to the hospital. Hands-Only CPR is CPR performed without rescue breaths. Thanks to the nurse’s quick action, Jeff recovered and ran a half-marathon just a year after his cardiac arrest.

Then, five years later in 2019, Jeff was out running again in Cherokee Park when he collapsed for a second time. This time, a group of high school boys responded.

"They called 911 and the 911 operator talked them through giving me [hands-only] CPR until the EMTs could get there,” said Jeff. “That was one more serious. They said they shocked me 11 times in the ambulance and six times in the ER."

Despite a few setbacks, things are going well now for Jeff. He recently took a First Aid/CPR certification course through the Red Cross and now advocates for hands-only CPR training. He has been involved with the American Heart Association and has advocated for 911 operators being trained in how to walk people through hands-only CPR.

“Hands-only CPR is so easy to learn,” said Jeff. "I think it gives people the ability to respond faster. It empowers you. If you know what to do, if you have the knowledge, there's a lot less panicking.”

With a half-million cardiac arrests each year, CPR and hands-only CPR can help save a life if a person's breathing or heart stops. CPR can double or triple the chance of survival when bystanders take action. Learn more about hands-only CPR here.