Duke University men’s basketball and football teams learn how to save a life with CPR

The American Heart Association teaches lifesaving skill to improve the chain of survival in Durham adding to its Nation of Lifesavers™

2025-07-24

(Press-News.org) DURHAM, N.C., July 23, 2025 — On Tuesday, July 22, members of the Duke University men’s basketball and football teams participated in American Heart Association Hands-Only CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) trainings to learn the correct rate and depth of CPR compressions to be confident and capable when faced with a cardiac emergency. According to American Heart Association data, nearly 9 out of every 10 of people who experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital die, in part because they do not receive immediate CPR more than half of the time. CPR, especially if performed immediately, can double or triple a person’s chance of survival.

“Every year, hundreds of thousands of cardiac arrests happen outside of hospitals — often with no warning and no time to spare. In those critical moments, knowing how to perform CPR and use an AED can mean the difference between life and death,” said Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association. “That’s why we’re working tirelessly with organizations like Duke University and their men's basketball and football teams to empower more people with the skills, confidence, and courage to step in and save a life using CPR.”

The Duke student-athletes are the newest members of the American Heart Association’s Nation of LifesaversTM. The Association, a global force changing the future of health for all, began the initiative in 2023 to make CPR and AED (automated external defibrillator) awareness and education a permanent fixture in all communities across the country. The initiative will ensure teens and adults can learn about CPR and AED use, share that knowledge with friends and family and engage employers, policymakers, philanthropists and others to create support for a nation of lifesavers.

The American Heart Association is the worldwide leader in resuscitation science, education and training, and publishes the official guidelines for CPR. With nearly 3 out of 4 cardiac arrests outside of the hospital occurring in homes, knowing how to perform CPR is critically important. With more people ready to perform CPR, the chance of a positive recovery increases for the community.

“Providing Hands-Only CPR training to our student-athletes through the Nation of Lifesavers campaign has been an incredibly valuable experience for the Duke football program. The sessions led by the American Heart Association were not only engaging but also empowering—equipping our team with the knowledge and confidence to act in an emergency. We’re proud to support this life-saving initiative and look forward to continuing our partnership with the American Heart Association,” said Kevin Siesel, head football athletic trainer at Duke University.

Compression-only CPR known as Hands-Only CPR can be equally effective as traditional CPR in the first few minutes of emergency response and is a skill everyone can learn. It is as simple as calling 911 if you see a teen or adult suddenly collapse and then push hard and fast in the center of the chest.

Additional Resources:

Multimedia is available on the right column of release link. Bystander CPR | Bystander CPR Infographic (PDF) Hands-Only CPR Resources Hands-Only CPR vs CPR with Breaths Cardiac Arrest vs. Heart Attack Reducing Disparities for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest – Community Toolkit: English and Spanish versions available Take 90 seconds to learn how to save a life at www.heart.org/HandsOnlyCPR. ###

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. The organization has been a leading source of health information for more than one hundred years. Supported by more than 35 million volunteers globally, we fund groundbreaking research, advocate for the public’s health, and provide critical resources to save and improve lives affected by cardiovascular disease and stroke. By driving breakthroughs and implementing proven solutions in science, policy, and care, we work tirelessly to advance health and transform lives every day. Connect with us on heart.org, Facebook, X or by calling 1-800-AHA-USA1.  

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Obesity shapes COVID-19’s long-term damage

2025-07-24

A study comparing the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection in lean and obese primates found different long-term consequences of the virus depending on prior obesity and metabolic disease. The results, which also highlighted how widespread long COVID symptoms are in animals, were published July 24th in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Charles Roberts of Oregon Health & Science University, USA, and colleagues. Long-term adverse consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection, termed “long COVID” or post-acute sequelae of COVID (PASC), are a major component of overall COVID-19 disease ...

New research: Satellite imagery detects illegal fishing activity, shows strict protections work

2025-07-24

Washington, D.C. (July 24, 2025) — New peer-reviewed research in the journal Science demonstrates the power of strict legal bans against industrial fishing in marine protected areas (MPAs). The analysis — which combines satellite imagery and artificial intelligence technology to detect previously untraceable vessels — reveals that most of the globe’s fully and highly protected MPAs successfully deter illegal fishing. The study is the first of its kind to demonstrate that the most strictly protected marine reserves are well ...

One billion-year-old rules of protein stability revealed

2025-07-24

Proteins are life’s molecular workhorses, doing everything from turning sunlight into food to fighting viruses. They are built from 20 different types of amino acid molecules, so even a small protein made of 60 amino acids in length can, in theory, be constructed in a quinquavigintillion, or 10⁷⁸, different ways. That’s about as many atoms there are in the entire universe. How did evolution choose the handful of amino acid combinations that result in proteins which fold, stay stable and get the job done? And can we learn these rules ...

Satellites show that strictly protected marine areas exclude industrial fishing

2025-07-24

Illegal fishing is a global problem that threatens the health of ocean ecosystems and the economic viability of the fishing industry. Marine protected areas (MPAs)—zones set aside to safeguard marine life—are a key tool for conservation, but monitoring them has been a long-standing challenge. Researchers led by the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Jennifer Raynor showed that artificial intelligence methods applied to satellite data provide a powerful new way to assess industrial fishing activity in MPAs, bridging blind spots in current ...

Scientists call for urgent policy reform to accelerate cross-border coral restoration efforts

2025-07-24

Scientists Call for Urgent Policy Reform to Accelerate Cross-Border Coral Restoration Efforts New paper published in Science by a team of international scientists urges regulatory reform to accelerate global coral restoration using assisted gene flow—an essential step to safeguard the economic value and coastal protection services that reefs provide. MIAMI (July 24, 2025) – An international team of coral scientists is calling for urgent regulatory reform to support assisted gene flow (AGF)—a ...

Two studies reveal global patterns of industrial fishing across marine protected areas

2025-07-24

In two separate studies leveraging satellite imagery and artificial intelligence techniques, researchers reveal patterns of industrial fishing in coastal marine protected areas (MPAs) worldwide. Collectively, the findings, which may seem contradictory, show that although industrial fishing vessels are present in many protected areas worldwide, MPAs with the highest levels of protection remain largely unfished. Both studies suggest that proper investment in protected areas will pay off and that synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite technology could be one of the key tools used ...

Can proactive assisted gene flow save Caribbean and Floridian corals?

2025-07-24

In a Policy Forum, Andrew Baker and colleagues discuss the recent regulatory action in Florida that has enabled the world’s first international coral exchange. The exchange was done to bolster genetic diversity in declining elkhorn coral populations, enhancing their resilience to climate change and other environmental pressures. Expanding such efforts to other coral species and regions will require international collaboration and a reevaluation of current conservation laws, note the authors. Coral reefs are among the most climate-sensitive marine ecosystems, with prolonged heat stress causing increasingly frequent and devastating bleaching events. For example, the historic ...

2023 marine heatwaves unprecedented and potentially signal a climate tipping point

2025-07-24

The global marine heatwaves (MHWs) of 2023 were unprecedented in their intensity, persistence, and scale, according to a new study. The findings provide insights into the region-specific drivers of these events, linking them to broader changes in the planet’s climate system. They may also portend an emerging climate tipping point. Marine heatwaves (MHWs) are intense and prolonged episodes of unusually warm ocean temperatures. These events pose severe threats to marine ecosystems, often resulting in widespread coral bleaching and mass mortality events. ...

Researchers document first images of the atomic fingerprint of heat in quantum materials

2025-07-24

College Park, Md. — Researchers investigating atomic-scale phenomena impacting next-generation electronic and quantum devices have captured the first microscopy images of atomic thermal vibrations, revealing a new type of motion that could reshape the design of quantum technologies and ultrathin electronics. Yichao Zhang, an assistant professor in the University of Maryland Department of Materials Science and Engineering, has developed an electron microscopy technique to directly image “moiré phasons”—a physical phenomenon that impacts superconductivity and heat conduction in two-dimensional materials for next-generation ...

Integrating sulfur into crystalline nanostructures fuels catalytic activity

2025-07-24

‘Sulfur enhances reactivity and lowers energy barriers for hydrogen activation’ New active sites containing sulfur significantly outperformed non-sulfur counterparts in hydrogenation catalysis Research supports production of enzyme-like models in stable materials EVANSTON, Ill. --- Despite natural evidence indicating sulfur’s importance and efficiency as a catalyst for critical redox reactions including hydrogenation (addition of hydrogen to molecule) and dehydrogenation (its opposite), chemists have struggled to manage the enzyme’s complexity and fragility at scale. Now, researchers ...

Duke University men’s basketball and football teams learn how to save a life with CPR

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: