The Graduate Education and Medical Sciences (GEMS) club hosted its semi-annual Save a Life Day Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The event, which took place in the Maverick Center, included CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), AED (automated external defibrillator) certification, and  first aid training through the American Red Cross.

Although CPR certification for CMU students and staff was free with a Mavcard, participants paid $10 for catering by Café Rio, and community members paid $35 for certification, which lasts two years. Prices outside of the CMU-sponsored event range from $40 to $50.

“I think that [CPR] is a really valuable skill to know,” Katharyn Woodard, GEMS club president, said. “Anybody can go into cardiac arrest. You could give that person a chance to live, a chance to be with their family and friends and people who really care about them, just by being here one Saturday, getting your certification and knowing what to do in that emergency situation.”

The day consisted of learning how to recognize an emergency situation, CPR training, catered lunch and first aid training in the afternoon. At the end of the day, participants received adult, child and infant CPR certifications.

This year’s Save a Life Day had a turnout of 35 participants, including one community member.

“I think it’s really cool to see so many people interested in just a small part of medicine,” Woodard said. “There have been a lot of studies that have shown that just having basic CPR knowledge can increase a person’s chance of survival exponentially.”

Kaitlyn Gilmore, a sophomore and double major in biology and chemistry, volunteered for Save a Life Day and has been a part of GEMS since last semester.

“You really have to think about all the situations you could be in,” Gilmore said. “It could happen everywhere. It’s better to be more prepared than not prepared at all.”

Applying gauze and handling external bleeding is one of the most important first aid techniques to know, according to Woodard and Gilmore. Because there are so many outdoor activities to participate in on the Western Slope, it is more common for people to get injured here and have serious bleeding, Gilmore said.

For students who missed Save a Life Day and are interested in becoming CPR certified, GEMS hosts the event every semester and will be offering another opportunity for certification in the fall.

arildefonso@mavs.coloradomesa.edu