Stuck at the airport? Learn how to save a life at CPR kiosk

Passengers waiting for flights at Chicago O’Hare International Airport can now use their down time to learn how to save a life.

The airport unveiled an interactive kiosk on Wednesday where passengers can get a lesson in the Hands-Only CPR method and then practice performing their technique on a specially-designed rubber torso.

The simplified CPR method doesn’t require rescue breaths but encourages bystanders to assist someone who collapses by pushing hard and fast in the center of the chest to the beat of the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive,” the disco song featured in the 1977 film, “Saturday Night Fever,” starring John Travolta.

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Wearing a white suit is not required.

The kiosk comes courtesy of the American Heart Association and the Anthem Foundation. It offers a video program with a brief “how-to” lesson. Users then practice on the rubber torso and get feedback on the depth and rate of their compressions and hand placement, which are key factors in effective CPR.

According the AHA, every year, more than 359,000 cardiac arrests occur outside the hospital, which more than 20% occurring in public places, including airports.

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“”Survival depends on immediately receiving CPR from someone nearby,” Clifton Callaway, chair of the AHA’s Emergency Cardiovascular Care committee and professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, said in a statement, “Although in-person training is still the best way to learn high-quality CPR, the kiosk will provide additional training that could make a difference and save the life of someone you love.”

The CPR kiosk at O’Hare is in Terminal 2, just past the security checkpoint, near the Kids on the Fly play area.

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport has had a pilot CPR kiosk since July 2013 and four other airports – Indianapolis International, Las Vegas McCarran, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson and Baltimore-Washington International – are scheduled to get CPR training kiosks by mid-March.

Harriet Baskas is a Seattle-based airports and aviation writer and USA TODAY Travel's "At the Airport" columnist. She occasionally contributes to Ben Mutzabaugh's Today in the Sky blog. Follow her at twitter.com/hbaskas.