Knowing the basics of CPR is an extremely important skill. If you suffer a heart attack and someone with you begins CPR before emergency medical personnel arrive, your chances of surviving increase exponentially.

If you are rusty on your CPR skills or have never taken a CPR course, DeKalb Technical College and Newton Medical Center are teaming up to offer "CPR Saturday" on June 19.

These are not certification courses, but the information gained during one of the free one-hour courses could potentially save lives.

The NMC Auxiliary has outlined community CPR education as one of its major goals during the next year. In a hospital-wide fundraiser employees and volunteers gathered enough funds to provide CPR Anytime training kits to every graduate of the neonatal intensive care unit.

These kits will be available for purchase at CPR Saturday, which will be at DTC’s Covington campus, or can be purchased in the hospital’s gift shop. If you wish to donate to the fund for next year’s NICU graduates, they cost approximately $40.

To sign up for a one-hour course on CPR Saturday, call Becky Hill at (404) 297-9522 ext. 5319 or e-mail her at hillb@dekalbtech.edu.

The more people in our community who know CPR, the easier we can all breathe.