Las Vegas’ network of ACC‑accredited Chest Pain Centers is expanding its mission outside hospital walls this year, as Sunrise Health System teams with the American Heart Association (AHA) to launch a twelve‑month community CPR initiative that will culminate at the Las Vegas Heart Walk on 18 October 2025.
Nine of every ten people who suffer a cardiac arrest away from a hospital do not survive—a statistic the AHA cites to illustrate how precious the first minutes after collapse can be. In most fatal cases no by‑stander CPR is attempted, leaving paramedics or emergency‑department teams to arrive too late.
The new campaign sets an ambitious goal: train at least 10 000 southern Nevada residents in hands‑only CPR, raise $55 000 for AHA cardiovascular research, and embed AED/CPR awareness modules in every Sunrise hospital orientation and outreach event between now and walk‑day. It will climax in a 5‑km “Heart Walk” at Las Vegas Ballpark—home of the Triple‑A Aviators—where finish‑line booths will convert spectators into certified lifesavers in under 30 minutes.
“By participating in the Las Vegas Heart Walk, we’re helping to raise awareness, fund research and spread the message of how critical it is to be prepared,” said Jackie Van Blaricum, president of HCA Healthcare’s Far West Division and 2025 Heart Walk chair.
Every Sunrise facility—children’s, adult, rehabilitation and urgent‑care—will run monthly “lunch‑and‑learns,” distribute CPR‑in‑a‑box kits, and challenge service‑area employers to match staff participation with charitable pledges. Inside the hospitals, emergency‑medicine physicians and cardiologists will hold live demos on the Simbulance, a mobile teaching ambulance that recreates field cardiac emergencies.
The system is also leveraging its Getting to the Heart of Stroke grant partnership: blood‑pressure monitors and lifestyle‑coaching vouchers will be placed in the hands of more than 36 000 high‑risk Las Vegans by year‑end, magnifying the preventive impact of the CPR push.
Educational stations at the walk will feature an oversized “F.A.S.T.” mural—Face drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulty, Time to call 911—and free stroke‑risk screenings, seamlessly connecting CPR training with broader acute‑cardiovascular‑care literacy.
For the valley’s accredited chest‑pain network, the strategy is synergistic: pre‑hospital CPR improves neurological outcomes, reduces door‑to‑balloon times lost to resuscitation, and ultimately feeds into the same performance metrics used for ACC certification.
Registration for the walk is open at LasVegasHeartWalk.org, with early‑bird teams earning CPR‑manikin lending kits for neighborhood block parties—turning passers‑by into first responders long before race day.