The third annual statewide Project Heart Start, a public service campaign to teach hands-on, compression-only CPR, will be held at UNM’s Johnson Center in the South Gym in Albuquerque and at various locations throughout New Mexico on Saturday, June 7 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Other session times vary by location. Check PHS for your nearest location.

Since 2010 Project Heart Start days have been very successful with more than 19,000 New Mexicans learning how to perform compression-only CPR. This year’s goal is to train hundreds more statewide and the project needs the help of volunteer facilitators to make this a reality.

“Project Heart Start is a tremendous opportunity to get the University community involved in this statewide effort," said Byron Piatt, UNM's emergency manager. "As an institution we are providing the facilities and helping with the instruction and general volunteers.  We also hope that our students, faculty and staff take advantage of the opportunity to learn life saving skills.”

As part of the event, organizers are seeking facilitators to help as instructors (facilitators) and with general volunteers to assist with traffic control, registration and various other duties. Facilitators are needed on June 7 from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m., while general volunteers are needed Friday evening and/or Saturday morning.

The course does not qualify for certification so facilitators are not required to be certified instructors, but rather people that may perform CPR as part of their professional role. In addition, EMTs and RTs can earn four hours of CE credits but need to register through Eventbrite and stay the entire four hours of the program.

Volunteer facilitators need to view the facilitator video and sign up through the Project Heart Start web site. Albuquerque facilitators can also register directly at ABQ 2014 Facilitator.

Interested participants may also signup using the following links: Friday volunteer registration, Saturday volunteer registration and Saturday facilitator registration.

For additional information, visit: Project Heart Start.