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Hands-Only CPR Training Kiosk May Help Save Lives

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The Independence Visitor Center is hosting a new guest, one that's a life saver, a hands-only CPR training kiosk.

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Philadelphia is behind many other cities in the number of people who know how to do CPR, so the American Heart Association has a new interactive kiosk to teach people on the spot and its location is a very popular place.

There's a brief training video, and then a practice session where you're taught to do 120 hard chest compression movements a minute.

"You don't need to be certified by the American Heart Association in order to do CPR and save someone's life; you just need to know how to do it," Dr. Richard Snyder, who is on the board of directors of the AHA, said.

Seconds matter with cardiac arrest, which is why its critical for more people to learn CPR, Dr. Snyder explained.

"The survival rate is today is about 10 percent but it could be two to three times higher if CPR was initiated early," he said.

Stephanie Austin was 35 when she went into cardiac arrest at home.

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"I didn't have a pulse when the ambulance arrived," she said.

Austin's husband performing CPR saved her life.

"CPR is something that allows anyone to become a life saver and too few people know it," she said.

But more will now, as 2 million people come through the Independence Visitor Center every year.

Tourists like Mia King from England are trying it out.

"It's a lot more useful than what we get told in our country," King said. "We don't really get stuff like this."

The training session that takes just a couple of minutes ends with a 30-second test.

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The training session begins with an important reminder: Before starting CPR, call 911 to get medical help. And the AHA is hoping more people will want to learn CPR since it no longer includes mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

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