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For embargoed release: 12:01 a.m.– Thursday, August 15, 2019

The Pueblo West community has new CPR training equipment that will help students learn better techniques and better retain what they learn thanks to a donation from local electric cooperatives.

San Isabel Electric and power-supplier Basin Electric Power Cooperative donated a combined $2,800 to the Pueblo West Fire Department (PWFD) to purchase four CPR mannequins and a cardiac heart rhythm simulator.

“The new equipment has the potential to help everyone in the Pueblo West community. Hopefully someone giving CPR will have had better instruction and will be able to provide better quality of care, thanks to this new equipment,” PWFD Captain Emily Moore said.

The new CPR mannequins provide instant feedback to the student regarding chest compression depth, pace and more. The new cardiac hearth rhythm simulator will be used by PWFD paramedics for advanced life support training.

In 2019, new American Heart Association guidelines required the mannequins be used for any new CPR or advanced life support classes for paramedics.

“I am extraordinarily proud of the Pueblo West Metro District,which operates in the black and is fiscally responsible. Because of that, we don’t have excess dollars lying around when these things come up,” PWFD Chief Brian Caserta said.

PWFD has public CPR education programs available to Pueblo West businesses, schools, babysitters, foster care parents, lifeguards and more.

For more information about PWFD’s CPR training programs please look online at the Pueblo West Metro District website or call the fire department’s administrative offices at 719-547-7337.

Because electric cooperatives belong to and are built by the communities they serve, giving back to the organizations that help keep communities strong and growing is one of San Isabel Electric’s operating principles.

Applications and guidelines for sponsorship and donation requests from San Isabel Electric can be found at siea.com/donations. Hard copies of guidelines and applications are also available at any of the co-op’s offices in Pueblo West, Walsenburg or Trinidad.

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As a not-for-profit cooperative utility, San Isabel Electric provides affordable, reliable electricity with exceptional service to communities throughout southern Colorado. Serving nearly 20,000 member-owners and 24,000 meters, San Isabel Electric has been keeping the lights on since 1938. We don’t just serve communities. We are part of communities.