Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) can happen to anyone, regardless of their age and health.

It’s why Chester County Hospital is partnering with Aidan’s Heart Foundation to offer free hands-only CPR and automated external defibrillator (AED) training sessions to the community on Thursday, June 2.

According to the American Heart Association, SCA annually claims the lives of lives of more than 356,000 people, 9,500 of whom are kids.

Held during National CPR and AED Awareness Week, this event spotlights the importance of more people learning how to save a life. It will be led by CPR-certified youth instructors and take place at the Marsh Creek Sixth Grade Center. The first session starts at 5:30 PM, and the second session starts at 7 PM.

“This event is to help people be educated and unafraid. Instead, they can be empowered to respond,” said Michele Francis, Director of Community Health & Wellness Services at Chester County Hospital. “Anyone can learn these simple, life-saving steps, and the more people we can get trained in our community, the better.”

While this marks the first time Chester County Hospital and Aidan’s Heart are working together, the latter has trained more than 8,000 students and 550 parents, teachers, and coaches. The foundation was created by Christy Marshall-Silva, who tragically lost her 7-year-old son, Aidan, to SCA in 2010.

When Marshall-Silva reached out to three local high school students — Maycie Kulp, Bailey Mullen, and Anna Powers — to see if they could gather others to volunteer for the event, she was overwhelmed by the response. Within 72 hours, more than 50 high school students, who had been trained in these skills and certified, stepped forward to be a part of the event.

Jerry Peters, Center Manager at Chester County Hospital, organized and led CPR trainings for youth on May 18 and 24. Among those students, 38 of them recently took the time to get recertified by the Chester County Hospital so they could participate.

“Kids see that they are able to be the first to respond when they’re with classmates, teammates, or at youth group,” said Marshall-Silva, who is also a reading specialist at the Marsh Creek Sixth Grade Center. “We like to teach kids these skills because they’re not afraid to jump in to help their friend survive a cardiac event. We empower them with this knowledge because we know they can do it. It’s not rocket science. You just have to be brave enough to take action.”

As this year would have been Aidan’s graduation year, this is an especially poignant time to continue the mission of Aidan’s Heart to screen, teach, and provide AEDs to schools and communities.

“Their intention is to pay tribute to their first-grade classmate lost to SCA. This will be a senior capstone event and will honor Aidan’s legacy and Christy’s mission,” said Mary Maurer, a nurse in the hospital’s Emergency Department and a volunteer with Aidan’s Heart.

Two speakers will also be at the sessions: Blair Allan, a survivor of SCA who was revived at the age of 15 because a member of the community knew CPR and the school had an AED, and student Teigan Brown who volunteers with Aidan’s Heart and has experienced giving CPR in an event to try to save her brother.

Summer brings long, warm days filled with swimming, sports, and adventure — but it also brings an increased risk of SCA. Maurer notes that recent closures of two hospitals in southern Chester County emphasize the need for AEDs at athletic events, and staffing issues due to the pandemic have extended the time it takes for emergency responders to arrive on the scene. Therefore, the need for community members to know how to respond in a cardiac emergency is even greater. Additionally, three AEDs have been purchased through Penn Medicine’s CARES Grant and will be placed around parks in Coatesville and Thorndale.

The event is free, but registration is strongly recommended.