Inspiring Charis House Staff to Save Lives with Free CPR Training

Charis House Fort Wayne CPR training

Staff members of Charis House in Fort Wayne, IN, practicing CPR on mannequins.

Bringing families and children home and ending homelessness begins with a simple act of caring. Imagine being homeless, unemployed, and helpless to provide the resources you and your family needs to merely survive. Most of us try and serve the homeless by giving them food or money when we have a little extra. While this act of giving is absolutely indispensable and effective, there are countless ways that the homeless population in our local communities need our help.

Did you know that for every age group, homeless persons are three times more likely to die of any disease or injury than the general population?

Homeless individuals suffer the same illness, such as heart disease, HIV/AIDS, hypertension and diabetes, but at rates that are up to six times higher.

Disque Foundation Empowerment Team has made it a mission to serve homeless families all over the nation. They recently traveled to the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans to help restore the homes and lives of families still living in poverty due to Hurricane Katrina, and have joined together with several local non-profit organizations, such as Ronald McDonald House and Wheeler Mission Ministries, to assemble “blessing bags” filled with food and toiletries for those living in poverty or without a home. In addition to providing physical goods to those effected by homelessness, the Empowerment Team has made it their mission to provide free CPR and AED training, to prevent unnecessary deaths from cardiac arrest and emergencies in the demographic that experiences it the most.

Two members of the team, Charlotte Gabet and Lauren Diffendarfer, contacted Charis House of Fort Wayne, IN, in an effort to empower the families and staff living and working there, to be equipped to save a life with CPR, AED & First Aid training. Charlotte and Lauren trained about 10 Charis House staff members, using CPR mannequins and a demonstration. In addition to providing CPR training to those there, they also passed out several free online CPR certification training cards so that individuals not able to make the training could become CPR certified for free online.

Charis House, a short-term residential program, has a total of 78 beds for homeless individuals and families in the Fort Wayne area, providing a haven for healing, emotional stability, and restoration. Disque Foundation feels honored for the opportunity to train the staff of Charis House, and look forward to working with them again in the future.

Charis House Fort Wayne CPR training

Lauren of the Empowerment Team demonstrating infant CPR.

Charis House Fort Wayne CPR training

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