SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — The American Heart Association has found only one out of three adults feel confident enough to perform CPR in an emergency. A bill in the state capitol wants to increase those numbers.

That bill will require emergency dispatchers to get telecommunicator CPR training to direct instructions to callers. Immediate CPR by a bystander can dramatically increase the survival rate for cardiac arrest victims.

Advocates said making sure all dispatchers are certified will help everyone, even people who already have been trained to give CPR.

“Kind of the emotional impact that seeing someone have a sudden cardiac arrest in front of you, it takes a toll,” said Sarah Lackore, Illinois Government Relations Director for the American Heart Association. “Having that guidance there to walk you through how to do CPR is invaluable.”

Research presented at the Heart Association’s Resuscitation Science Symposium last year shows bystander CPR was given to women 44% of the time and 40% of the time to men with instructions from a dispatcher, versus 9% for women and 11% for men without any assistance from 911.

This study also found no statistically significant difference between women and men with directions from 911. Without assistance, women are less likely to get CPR.

“Previous research has shown that hesitance may be a reason women are less likely than men to receive CPR in public,” said Dr. Audrey Blewer, the study’s lead author, in an AHA news release. “Some of the concerns identified were concerns about touching a woman’s chest during the lifesaving technique or fear the action could be perceived as assault.” 

The bill passed unanimously out of both chambers of the legislature and is now on the governor’s desk.

The American Heart Association has several online resources to help bystanders learn Hands-Only CPR to save lives.