How I Learned CPR At “In the Heights”

The musical In The Heights is set in the Latino community of New York’s Washington Heights neighborhood, and when heart disease affects one of its characters, it’s more than just a plot twist: It’s a reflection of a major American health crisis.

According to the American Heart Association, heart disease and stroke claim twenty-seven percent of the Hispanic and Latino Americans who die each year. For a show like In The Heights, which strives to honestly embody a contemporary Latino experience, it would almost be inconceivable to leave heart disease out of the story.

But what happens when the story has been told? Beyond representing this health crisis on stage—which is no small thing, of course—can a group of theatre artists do anything to address it ?

They certainly can. Last week, cast members from In the Heights, as well as cast members from the current Broadway revival of West Side Story, gathered on stage at the Richard Rodgers Theatre (where In the Heights performs) to be trained by American Heart Association representatives in a technique called “Hands-Only CPR.” That’s a type of CPR that only involves chest compressions, not mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and it’s valuable because it can quickly be learned, quickly taught during an emergency, and provide vital support to someone suffering from cardiac arrest.

In other words, this event made it clear that with just a little training, any of us can help someone who is having a heart attack.

Fortunately for me, the AHA invited journalists to participate alongside the actors in the training session. I was happy to join in, since I haven’t been trained in CPR since eighth-grade health class. (I also brought along Sarah Aziz, coordinator of TDF’s accessibility programs.)

Right there alongside actors like Olga Merediz (Tony-nominated for her role as Abuela Claudia in In the Heights) and George Akram (who is starring as Bernardo in West Side Story), Sarah and I went to work on our plastic CPR dummies, learning the best way to position our hands over a victim (fingers interlocking, elbows straight) and the best speed for applying chest compressions (roughly 100 beats per minute.)

Honestly, I hope I never have to use the skill I picked up at this event, but I’m happy to have it. And I’m happy to be able to spread a few messages: Be aware of your heart health; be aware of how heart disease affects the Latino and Hispanic communities in America; and be aware that it doesn’t take much time to make a difference.

To learn more about Hands-Only CPR, go here.

(Top photo, TDF staff members Sarah Aziz and Mark Blankenship on stage at the Richard Rodgers; middle photo, Olga Merediz gets CPR training)