We’ve all heard of the infamous Tupper Ware parties. But have you heard of the CPR Party? My next guest is Laura Metro who was inspired to create the popular CPR Party originating from a near-death drowning incident of her son. Turning adversity into opportunity, she imagines a world where every neighbor is empowered to become a citizen paramedic. One house at a time, she is democratizing access to affordable CPR training with the hope that no one ever has to suffer the hard-ship she endured with her son.br /

br /

On this episode, Laura shares with us the horrifying moment of almost losing her son to a preventable drowning incident, what sparked her to create CPR Party, and why she believes CPR training is a global imperative. All this and more on today’s episode.br /

br /

Now, That’s Unusual.br /

br /

Visit www.thatsunusualpodcast.combr /

br /

ABOUT LAURA METRObr /

br /

On June 18, 2011, Laura Metro’s life was rocked.br /

br /

She and her husband went on a run with the family dog on the Delaware shore, while friends watched her two small children at the neighborhood pool. Her three-year-old son, Clay, fell in the deep end and silently sank. He was unconscious in a matter of moments. A bystander performed CPR until paramedics arrived, and Metro and her son were rushed to Wilmington via Medevac. After two days in a coma, Clay awoke to make a miraculous recovery, much of which was attributed to the efforts of the ‘citizen paramedic’ who performed compressions until first responders reached the scene.br /

br /

Devastated by the incident and driven to make sure no other parent would ever have to experience that kind of grief, Metro leveraged her background in PR and marketing to develop CPR Party, a model that mirrors the in-home shopping party concept. The program provides a CPR instructor to conduct an informal course, and every individual has the opportunity to do compressions on a mannequin and experience an AED demo during the one-hour session.br /

br /

CPR Party is program of Metro’s CLAY Foundation, which seeks to teach CPR, promote water safety and drowning awareness as well as advocate for FloatFirst swim curriculums. The overarching goal of the foundation is to empower people to save lives through prevention and emergency first response.br /

br /

To read all show notes and resources for this episode please visit: www.drgautamgulati.com/ep030