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TYLER MOUNTAIN, W. Va. For the past three years, the Tyler Mountain Volunteer Fire Department has conducted free, community classes in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Recently, the fire department acquired eight new CPR mannequins, which are used to demonstrate the proper way to administer CPR to heart attack victims.
"This brings us up to 16 mannequins. If you have one mannequin per two people, you can teach a whole class at once," Nasby said.
The department teaches a CPR class each month. There is no charge for the classes, but if students want a CPR certification card from the American Heart Association, they must pay $10.
"The fire department makes nothing, but we do accept donations," he said.
The CPR classes follow AHA standards. Using the mannequins, students learn the proper placement of hands for chest compressions and how to tilt the head, lift the chin and do rescue breathing.
CPR students are also taught how to use portable, electronic defibrillators, which deliver electric shocks to the heart.
"We have a brand-new one that we just took delivery of last Tuesday. Our goal is to have one of these on every truck," Nasby said.
The portable defibrillators, or AEDs, are "popping up everywhere" in malls, churches and airports, so it's good to know how to use them, he said.
Nasby's partners in the CPR classes are fire department members Randy McGrew and Fred Tillis Jr.
They teach the classes once a month in the Community Building, which is next door to the fire department on Tyler Mountain Road.
During each four-hour class, the students also learn how to recognize the symptoms of a heart attack or stroke.
