Emergencies can happen anywhere, anytime and to anyone – even to those seemingly in the best of health.

On Sunday, March 31st 2019, Warren Gordon collapsed and went into cardiac arrest while playing basketball at Madison Prep High School in Baton Rouge. Michael Parker, a friend of Warren’s who was also playing basketball, witnessed the incident and was able to perform CPR as others called 9-1-1 for help. Upon arriving at the hospital, it was determined that Warren had three blockages in his heart including one that was 100% blocked.

After learning of the ExxonMobil/American Red Cross Safety Fair, and the free hands-only CPR class being offered, Warren and his wife Thanicia knew it was a perfect opportunity to have six members of their immediate family trained in these lifesaving tactics.

“Now everyone knows what to do to help someone, should anything ever happen,” said Thanicia Gordon. “We can never express how truly grateful we are for Michael’s actions – he’s a hero.”

The purpose of the American Red Cross Hands-Only CPR course is to teach untrained bystanders how to perform hands-only CPR – that is, chest compressions without the mouth-to-mouth respiration. By having more citizen bystanders trained in this simple skill it puts cardiac arrest victims within a few steps of lifesaving professional assistance.

The Red Cross encourages everyone to learn first aid, CPR and how to use an AED so they’ll have the knowledge and confidence to act in an emergency, just like Michael did. For a listing of classes available in your area, visit redcross.org/takeaclass.