CRANBERRY TWP — Cranberry Township EMS will host compression-only CPR training Saturday — and, to stress its importance, will host a reunion between at least three people whose lives were saved by CPR and those who performed it on them.

The five, who remain unnamed, will reunite at Save a Life Saturday at noon. The CPR training will last from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Compression-only CPR does not require certification, and the practice CTEMS provides will take only minutes, township EMS outreach coordinator Mandy Cousins said.

Chief Ted Fessides said this will be the fifth time CTEMS has hosted a reunion with survivors.

The reunions are arranged by the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation.

“To get three survivors, alone, that is an accomplishment,” he added.

Cousins said the main goal of CTEMS in providing the training is to ensure those who suffer cardiac arrest can be treated by paramedics. She said the average response time in the township is nine minutes, and that performing CPR during those nine minutes drastically increases patients' odds of survival.

“Our goal is to get more people out in public who know it,” Cousins said. “That's where the difference is made.”

Emergency dispatchers provide detailed instructions on how to perform CPR, Cousins said, so the EMS company hopes this training will provide attendees with enough familiarity to perform it in an emergency situation.