This editorial appears in the Feb. 2, 2010, Yakima Herald-Republic.

Yakima County has a 46 percent higher death rate from heart attacks than the Washington state average.

That's bad.

About 80 percent of heart attacks occur in the home.

That's also bad.

What is good, however, is that effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) provided immediately after cardiac arrest can double a victim's chance of survival.

So, if you have training, you could save a life, perhaps in your own home.

That's the impetus for the Great CPR Blitz 2010, organized by Davis High School teacher and coach Pete Orgill, Dr. Dave Krueger of the Yakima Heart Center and Dennis Hoover of Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital. The free event is happening this Saturday at the Yakima Convention Center. The goal is to teach 1,000 people how to perform CPR. The organizers are asking participants to then pass that information on to five others. If they reach the goal of 1,000 participants, it would mean a whopping 6,000 people would be better able to cope in a cardiac emergency. (A note: This course will cover only basic CPR.)

Why should we care? Just take a look at the sobering statistics. The American Heart Association, one of the event sponsors, notes that roughly 95 percent of sudden-cardiac-arrest victims die before reaching the hospital. As many as 138,000 coronary-heart-disease deaths occur within one hour of symptoms beginning. But administering CPR helps maintain vital blood flow to the heart and brain. That may help the victim survive until the ambulance or fire truck arrives with a defibrillator. In other words, call 9-1-1 and start CPR and you are giving a heart attack victim more of a chance.

So along with knowing how to perform CPR, it's also important for us to recognize the symptoms of a heart attack. If we recognize the symptoms, we may be able to get our loved ones (or ourselves) to a hospital in time.

Those attending Saturday's event will get a short session on general heart health information, symptoms, risk factors and how to decrease risk factors. If you aren't able to spend an hour at this course, at least take a few moments to review the information on the American Heart Association's Web site, www.americanheart.org, so you'll know what you're looking for. Remember, symptoms may be different in men and women, and while we may think of heart disease as being a man's problem, it's the No. 1 cause of death for women.

And don't think that the need for CPR is just for older folks. CPR can save the life of infants and children in cases of near-drowning and other emergencies.

If you are interested, you can sign up for one of four one-hour sessions (at 8, 9, 10 and 11 a.m. Saturday), call 509-574-5990, or go to www.savealifeyakima.org.

Organizers hope local schools encourage their students to attend. And remember, even if you don't preregister, you can still attend. Just show up at the Yakima Convention Center a few minutes before each scheduled session so you'll have time to pick up information from the various booths.

Need another reason? How about receiving a free American Heart Association CPR Anytime Kit, which teaches the core skills in 22 minutes and includes an inflatable mannequin (Mini Anne) and an instructional DVD. The kits will be given out to participants as long as supplies last.

But really, should we need any incentive besides the chance to save a life?

This is yet another example that Yakima has good folks doing good things. We'd like to recognize Memorial Institute for Heart and Vascular Health, Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center, Yakima Heart Center, American Medical Response, Advances Life Systems Inc., the Yakima Convention Center and the American Heart Association for supporting this event, as well as all the local physicians, medical staff members, firefighters and other early responders who will volunteer their time to teach this life-saving skill.

So, it's our turn. So far, just over 200 people have signed up. That means there's plenty of room for more of us who want to be ready to make a difference.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Bob Crider, Spencer Hatton and Karen Troianello.