In an emergency situation, such as cardiac arrest, it's vital to perform CPR within the first four minutes. The more time that passes, there will be irreversible damage to the brain and the body. 

In wake of getting CPR performed as soon as possible, Kentucky has passed a law that requires all certified emergency dispatchers to be trained for telephone CPR or T-CPR.

Certified dispatchers must be trained using nationally-recognized emergency cardiovascular guideline. Dispatch agencies now also have a secondary option to establish an agreement with another Public Safety Answering Point to provide T-CPR. This would be in an instance if an agency was smaller and there may not be someone to answer the call and go through the T-CPR instructions.

Emergency medical dispatch courses already cover T-CPR. The T-CPR certification is effective for two years, then the agency has to pursue re-certification through a vendor.

According to the Kentucky law, a dispatcher is only required to provide verbal instructions once, but if the dispatcher can provide additional care, he or she is strongly encouraged to do so.

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