{"id":56046,"date":"2014-06-03T09:30:09","date_gmt":"2014-06-03T13:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=56046"},"modified":"2014-06-02T18:53:21","modified_gmt":"2014-06-02T22:53:21","slug":"reason-no-5-leah-olverd-of-plainview-ny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=56046","title":{"rendered":"Reason No. 5: Leah Olverd of Plainview, NY"},"content":{"rendered":"

At 14, she suffered sudden cardiac arrest. Eight years later, she works in New York City<\/em><\/p>\n

(May 2014) <\/em>She was a teenager at volleyball tryouts when she suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. Quick thinking and quick implementation of CPR and use of an AED saved Leah Olverd\u2019s life. Olverd is the American Heart Association\u2019s Reason No. 5 that the CPR in Schools bill should be a law.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the years since my ‘sudden death,’ I have been fortunate enough to live a normal life,\u201d Olverd said. \u201cShortly after my sudden cardiac arrest, I became the captain of the volleyball team, danced at prom, learned CPR and spoke at my high school graduation. Now almost eight years later, I have traveled the world, earned a business degree from Fordham University and started my career in New York City.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am living proof that CPR and AEDs work,\u201d Olverd continued. \u201cHad my coach not performed CPR or sent for an AED, I would not be here today. No one is prepared to suffer a sudden cardiac arrest, especially not a teenager. Passing the CPR in Schools bill would train an army of people in these vital skills and empower our youth to save lives. Please support this bill and learn CPR for yourself. You just might save a life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olverd is one of many American Heart Association volunteers working to pass the CPR in Schools bill. She is the first person in the \u201cI\u2019m Alive\u201d video that showcases sudden cardiac arrest survivors.<\/p>\n

To convince lawmakers to pass the CPR in Schools bill (A9298\/S7096), the American Heart Association is conducting the \u201cSo Many Reasons\u201d campaign. Every session day between now and the end of the legislative session, the American Heart Association is sending a \u201creason\u201d to pass the bill. The reasons show people whose lives were saved with CPR and\/or an AED, or people whose lives were lost because CPR and\/or an AED weren\u2019t used, or weren\u2019t used correctly. The same reason is going to the media, and being posted on the American Heart Association\u2019s facebook (American Heart Association \u2013 New York State) and Twitter feeds (@CRNYHEART in the Capital Region), with the hashtag CPRInSchools.<\/p>\n

Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, D-Long Beach, and Senator Mark Grisanti, R-Buffalo, recently introduced an updated CPR in Schools bills, which is currently in the Education Committees in both houses.<\/p>\n

\u201cCPR is a lifesaving solution,\u201d said Weisenberg. \u201cAs a former police officer, school administrator and lifeguard, I know firsthand that we need bystander CPR to save lives.\u00a0Many people are alive today because individuals trained in CPR \u2014 including youth and adults who received that training in school \u2014 gave someone CPR until EMTs arrived. I\u2019m committed to passing the CPR in Schools bill so that we can create a generation in which New Yorkers are prepared to save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSchools prepare students with essential life skills, and CPR skills are among the most critical lifesaving skills that make our communities safer, year after year, said Grisanti. \u201cIt\u2019s time to add New York to the growing list of states that have passed this legislation. I\u2019m honored to sponsor the CPR schools legislation in the New York State Senate and I am proud to work in partnership with the American Heart Association and families in western New York to help make this bill become a law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year, 424,000 people suffer sudden cardiac arrest outside the hospital,\u201d said Dan Moran, chair of the American Heart Association\u2019s New York State Advocacy Committee. \u201cWould you know what to do if someone collapsed in front of you? Teaching CPR in schools will save lives. When I meet people who were dead, really, with sudden cardiac arrest, and I hear everything they\u2019ve done since being saved, you see that the CPR in Schools bill isn\u2019t just a bill \u2013 it\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, only about 10 percent of those who suffer sudden cardiac arrest survive.<\/p>\n

To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, visit www.heart.org<\/a> or call any of our offices around the country.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At 14, she suffered sudden cardiac arrest. Eight years later, she works in New York City (May 2014) She was a teenager at volleyball tryouts when she suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. Quick thinking and quick implementation of CPR and use of an AED saved Leah Olverd\u2019s life. Olverd is the American Heart Association\u2019s Reason […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22341],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-regional"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56046\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}