June 1-7 is National CPR and AED Awareness Week. We’re pleased to support the American Heart Association and its important mission to increase survival from cardiac arrest. We’re asking all members within our community to please take one minute of your day to learn the lifesaving skills of Hands-Only™ CPR.

Also, for CPR awareness week we are hosting a free community CPR class called, Knoxville Knows CPR! Our mission is to save lives; both in the classroom and in our community.  We think this is the best way that we can accomplish both!  Everyone needs to learn CPR!

I am requesting your help addressing a health concern that impacts our entire community. According to the American Heart Association, 90 percent of people who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests die. CPR, especially if performed immediately, can double or triple a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival. If you are called on to give CPR in an emergency, you will most likely be trying to save the life of someone you love: a spouse, parent, child or friend.  Many bystanders feel helpless when they see someone go down because they don’t know what to do.  Just learning 2 simple steps can make a huge difference in the victim’s outcome.

We will be teaching hands-only CPR and focusing on how learning 2 steps can save lives.
1) Call 911 & get the AED
2) Begin hands only CPR (compressions only)

What: Knoxville Knows CPR, Free Community CPR Class
When: Sunday, June 7th at 2PM
Where: The Zone Sporting Complex, 5331 Western Ave.  Knoxville, TN
Why: It is CPR Awareness Week
(Donations are welcome; all proceeds will benefit Hearts for the Homeless)

If you can’t make it to our class, at least visit the AHA website and learn Hand’s Only CPR.  You may wonder why this is such an important cause. Your life is why! In just one minute, you can learn the two simple steps of Hands-Only™ CPR.  Please watch the video any day from June 1 through 7. Then share the link with family and friends, and ask them to learn CPR.

Thank you so much!  Learn to save a life!

 CPR Choice has started a new project called, Hearts for the Homeless.  For the next 50 days, we will be collecting hygiene, food and necessary items to help the homeless in Knox & Blount county.  Our mission is to save lives and we want to do more to help save lives in our community.

• Toothbrush
• Tooth Paste
• Soap
• Deodorant
• Razor & Shaving cream
• Socks
• Chapstick
• Sunscreen
• Wet Wipes
• Shampoo/Conditioner
• Bandaids
• Lotion
• Hair comb
• Granola bars
• Peanut Butter crackers
• Apple Sauce
• Water

*Source: KARM

Spring is in the AIR!

Spring has finally arrived in East Tennessee, and I am so thankful to see tulips coming up, daffodils, and color blooming everywhere. The change in the seasons is one of the reasons I love East Tennessee. We have distinct seasons and the reoccurring theme is we always love to see one end and another begin. With the unexpected winter we had including lots of snow and ice, warmer weather and the official change of seasons is a welcome sign!

Along with the change in landscape we also are welcomed with increased pollen, spring storms and weather alerts and the urge to spring clean! For me spring is always a great time to de-clutter your house, your garage, your car, work- every place you touch daily! Our lives are filled with so many material objects and clutter adds up fast. Here’s a few tips on how to de-clutter your world:

1. Start with a list! It helps you stay on task and you get such a great feeling when you can mark a completed item of the list! I break the list down to house, garage and outside attention. Every year my list includes every room, it’s a great way for me to go back and ensure that any clutter that has accumulated over the past year is cleared and in most cases it’s an easy check mark for me! It also allows me to see items I need to work on, such as new bedding or new nightstands and I can be on the lookout in my shopping adventures. And that’s a new list of “Wants” or “Upgrades”.  It’s nice to have these items in mind as your shopping, especially at different seasons so you can cash in on the sales! Remember though- if you add items, you need to subtract them too!
2. Set up a few buckets or boxes before you start- 1. Things you will keep but need a home, 2. Things you can donate- these are items you haven’t used but are in good shape and can benefit others and 3. TRASH! Don’t be afraid to throw things away!!
3. Get detailed in every room- organize and de-clutter closets, cabinets, drawers, everything. If you haven’t used it in a year decide how to get rid of it- donate or trash!
4. Be realistic about completing this project! If you have a busy schedule, which most of us do, set aside a few hours a week to work on your list. You’ll see continuous progress, which will help you keep your motivation, and things will be so much easier for you moving forward. For example, having a place for frequently used items, such as car keys, bills, shoes, etc. will save you time, energy and help reduce your stress. Now I know we all need that!

I promise once you start this process you will become addicted to the feeling and it will be harder for you to slide back into old habits. A perk could also include your ability to think past your day-to-day and dream about ways to give back to others, or focus on a dream or hobby that you didn’t have time to focus on before.  CPR Choice is doing just that, we are continuously looking for ways to offer additional classes that fill a functional need as well as ways to offer our services back to our community! 2015 will be exciting and we want you there with us! Stay tuned for more information….

I Love You With All My Kidney!

Celebrating National Kidney month, this past Saturday I participated in the 4^th annual East Tennessee Kidney Foundation Lucky Kidney Run. The Lucky Kidney Run, benefitting the East Tennessee Kidney Foundation (ETKF), was a fun and family-oriented fundraiser that focused on prevention, detection, and education of kidney disease, dialysis and the need for organ donation. In the 4^th year, this run/walk proceeds will be used to help support low-income households who cannot afford to reach their life-dependent dialysis treatments. This is a local effort, as there are over 1500 dialysis patients in East Tennessee.

Kidneys- What are they & what do they do?

Kidneys are vital organs, just like your heart and lungs. The two bean-shaped organs, each about the size of a fist are located just below the rib cage with one on each side. They keep the composition of your blood stable and without it your body will not function.   Their primary role is to filter waste and extra water out of your blood. The waste and extra fluid exits your body thru your urine, engaging the bladder to use as a holding place and the urethra, which is the tube where the urine flows thru when leaving your body.

On a daily basis, the kidneys filter 120-150 quarts of blood (almost 30 gallons!) and sift out 1-2 quarts of extra water and waste products. The filtering of waste happens in tiny units inside the kidneys called nephrons. Each kidney has about a million nephrons. The nephron includes a filter, called glomerulus, and a tubule. Nephrons work in 2 steps- the first is the glomerulus lets fluid and waste produces pass through it; however it prevents blood cells and large molecules, most proteins from passing. Secondly the filtered fluid then passes through the tubule, which sends needed minerals back to the bloodstream and removes waste.

Besides preventing the back up of wastes and fluids in our body, they also:

• Helps control your blood pressure
• Makes hormones that help keep your bones strong
• Makes red blood cells
• Regulates the level of your electrolytes, including sodium, potassium and phosphates

Obviously, when the kidneys are not functioning properly, removing waste or regulating blood pressure your health will decline. If your kidneys have been permanently damaged, it’s called chronic kidney disease (CKD) or kidney disease. If the damage is severe enough and your kidneys stop working, this is called kidney failure. Kidney failure results in dialysis and/or a kidney transplant.

How do you keep your kidneys healthy?

• Manage your diabetes – high blood sugar slowly damages your kidney
• Eat a heart healthy diet
• Exercise
• Keep a healthy blood pressure

We care about your overall well-being and we encourage you to incorporate these kidney healthy tips into your daily routine.  CPR Choice is also committed to offering you life-saving skills such as First Aid, CPR and AED training.   Having confidence in your ability to perform CPR and to use an AED is the best way to prevent unnecessary deaths. CPR Choice is your source to learn the skills needed to save a life!  Sign your family up today and be equipped with the skills to help save a life, possibly a loved one.

This year’s Peanut Butter Drive turned out to be a great success.  Originally we had set a goal to collect 250 jars of peanut butter.  We had to keep increasing the goal!  We are proud to announce that this yesterday we dropped off over 800 jars of peanut butter to Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee. We had been collecting the past 3 weeks.  Our PB drive was even featured in the Daily Times newspaper.

Our mission is to SAVE LIVES!  Not only do we want to accomplish our mission by teaching the valuable life saving skills of CPR but also by doing charitable work that can help others.  Every year we pick a project to help save the lives of others.  This year we chose to collect Peanut Butter for 2nd Harvest Food Bank.  Peanut butter is a highly sought after product for food banks as it has a good combination of carbs, fats, proteins and nutrients as well as a good shelf life.  We offered our customers discounts for brining in jars and worked with past customers to help collect.  Some of our collection spots were schools, dance studios, hair salons, gyms and individuals.

It feels so good to be able to make a small difference in our local community.  We teach heart health in our CPR classes and that includes encouraging others to exercise their hearts by reaching down and lifting up others.

We are all ready looking forward to next year and what projects we can get involved with to help our community.  On Jan 23 & 24 we will be offering a community CPR class at The Health Living Expo for only $10 at the Knoxville Convention Center.  All proceeds to benefit our local American Heart Association.

Learn CPR-Save Lives!

The answer is overwhelmingly YES! Have you ever volunteered for an event and walked away with a euphoric feeling? This feeling is addictive and good for you – mentally and physically!

There are huge benefits in volunteering, felt by you, your family and your community.   CPR Choice understands the value of giving back and looks for every opportunity to make an impact!   In the past couple years, CPR Choice has led the charge on numerous volunteer/charity initiatives and are continuously looking for more ways to get involved and give back.  We want to make a difference in our community!  While we feel it is important to teach CPR, we know there are other issues that can use our help.  We want to live our mission, not just say it!

We want to SAVE LIVES!

Here are a few of our projects:

• Last year we worked with our customers & friends and collected nearly 10,000 pairs of shoes for people in Ecuador and Haiti.  The shoes were donated to Dando Amor and given to orphaned children and adults with no shoes.
• During the 2013 holiday season we coordinated a canned food drive for 2nd Harvest food bank and collected hundreds of canned goods.  This helped local people in Tennessee that were hungry.
• Each year we pick a few non-profit organizations and train all of their personnel at no charge.
• CPR Choice staff have volunteered their time to offer first aid for community events. Earlier this year we were on-site for the Glow Trot fun run 5K and we helped sponsor Knoxville’s Party in Pink to raise awareness for Breast Cancer.
• CPR Choice has also helped fund a new automated external defibrillator (AED) for 1 local hospital and 1 local church.
• Currently we are collecting Peanut Butter for The Second Harvest Food Bank. Our goal was 500 jars but we have already surpassed it! We are still collecting until December 20th.

We know it doesn’t take a lot of effort to make a difference and the rewards are amazing. Here’s a few of the benefits we found:

• Networking– volunteering is a great way to meet new people, help build stronger relationships with current friends if you volunteer together and for some can help combat loneliness and depression. Committing to a time and place is a great way to manage your week and provides you with social interaction, while helping others. Everyone benefits.
• Learning a new skill– volunteering can open the door to new skills. It can be a technical skill, such as filing, using a new computer program, or it can also include social skills, overcoming shyness and learning to relate to people. These newly acquired skills can be utilized anywhere, including your job or in a relationship.
• Self-worth– volunteering provides a feeling of self-worth and/or an increase in self-esteem. Providing support to people in need is a humbling experience, leaving you feeling good about volunteering and ultimately feeling good about yourself.   This feeling becomes addictive and we have found that we want to continue to help, there are so many people in need.

THANK YOU to all our customers and friends for helping us help others! We are committed to increasing our giving next year and would love for you all to be a part of our success. Stay tuned for our new volunteer activities in 2015!  Our mission is to “SAVE LIVES”; we don’t just say it…WE MEAN IT!  We hope to exercise our HEARTS by reaching down and lifting up others in need!

Part of our mission is to “Save Lives” and we take it very seriously.  Every year we participate in several charity events to try and help save the lives of others.  We try to make giving one of the cornerstones of our company.  We donate to local churches, scout troops and many other non-profits through out the year.  This holiday season we have chose to do a peanut butter drive for our local food bank, Second Harvest. 

Helping Those in Need

According to Second Harvest Food Bank, 1 in 6 people in East Tennessee lives in poverty and has difficulty meeting basic needs. Second Harvest is trying to change that statistic in 18 East Tennessee counties and WE WANT TO HELP.  Second Harvest Food Bank is the East Tennessee region’s largest hunger-relief charity. The food bank secures and distributes over 16 million pounds of food and grocery products annually through a network of over 500 partnering non-profit organizations such as food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters and schools.

Why Peanut Butter?

Many food banks refer to peanut butter as creamy gold and is greatly sought after by 2nd Harvest.  It is highly valued, prime food product because it is packed with essential nutrients and provides a good combination of protein, carbohydrate and fats.  Peanut butter also has a long shelf life and it makes giving easy and affordable.

How can I help?

1. Tell your friends–make an event out of it! Announce it at your school, church, gym, neighborhood or collect it at your upcoming holiday parties.
2. Collect lots of peanut butter-get your kids involved.  What a great way to help teach them generosity.  My kids are I walking the neighborhood with our little red wagon.
3. Drop off peanut butter donations at our new West Knoxville office by December 20th;
   9111 Cross Park Dr Bldg D200, Knoxville TN 37923
4. Bring a jar of peanut butter to your upcoming CPR class and get $5 off

This holiday season please help us Spread the Love!  No one should have to go hungry.  Please exercise your heart by reaching down and lifting up those in need.  

We are continuing to collect Peanut Butter at our CPR classes in Knoxville.
Come learn CPR and donate!