Pasadena Firefighters Offer Free CPR Training to Villa Parke on Saturday

When someone’s heart stops, the people closest — a spouse at the kitchen table, a co-worker in the next cubicle — are the ones who decide what happens next. On Saturday, the Pasadena Fire Department wants to make sure more of them know what to do.

The department and Huntington Health are hosting a free Sidewalk CPR training — billed as a chance to “learn how to save a life” — from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Villa Parke Multipurpose Soccer Field the department announced on social media. No registration is required. Residents can walk up, learn Hands-Only CPR in roughly five minutes, and walk away with a skill the American Heart Association says can double or triple the chance of survival from cardiac arrest.

The event is part of an annual collaboration between the Pasadena Fire Department, Huntington Health and the city’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department. In previous years, the training was held at The Paseo in downtown Pasadena, where the partnership trained more than 180 people in June 2025, according to Pasadena Now.

Hands-Only CPR is simpler than traditional CPR — no mouth-to-mouth breaths are involved. Bystanders call 911 and then push hard and fast in the center of the chest at a rate of 100 to 120 compressions per minute until paramedics arrive. Instructors at past events have taught participants to keep rhythm with the beat of the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive.”

The need is substantial. More than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the United States each year, according to the American Heart Association. Only about 40 percent of victims receive bystander CPR before professional help arrives, and the overall survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is roughly 9 percent, according to the AHA’s most recent data.

“A cardiac event most often happens in the home, so it’s important to be prepared to help our family members or friends when they need us the most,” Jennifer Van Slyke, manager of the prehospital program at Huntington Health, said at the partnership’s 2025 training event. “Hands-Only CPR is a simple, life-saving skill.”

Huntington Health, a Pasadena-based hospital and affiliate of Cedars-Sinai, has partnered with the fire department on Sidewalk CPR events for multiple years, with previous sessions drawing crowds of 100 to 285 participants, according to Huntington Health. The training does not result in CPR certification but provides the foundational technique and information on how to pursue formal certification, according to Huntington Health’s reporting on past events.

Sidewalk CPR: Learn How to Save a Life takes place on Saturday, June 13, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The training is free and no registration is required. The venue is the Villa Parke Multipurpose Soccer Field, 363 East Villa Street. Free parking is available in the Villa Park lot. For more information, call the Villa Parke Community Center at (626) 744-6530 or the Pasadena Fire Department at (626) 744-7201, or visit cityofpasadena.net/fire/.