Hands-Only CPR at the Fair: UMMC Resuscitation Training Core Takes Its Mobile Sim Unit to the Mississippi State Fair
Somewhere between the corn dogs and the Ferris wheel, fairgoers in Jackson can learn a skill that could save a life in just a few minutes. The University of Mississippi Medical Center's Resuscitation Training Core (RTC) is bringing its mobile simulation unit to the Mississippi State Fair to teach Hands-Only CPR!
The RTC, part of the School of Medicine's Department of Advanced Biomedical Education, trains health care providers in American Heart Association resuscitation courses such as BLS and ACLS. The fair lets the team carry that same expertise beyond the hospital walls, to the places where cardiac arrest most often strikes.
Why Hands-Only CPR Matters
More than 350,000 cardiac arrests happen outside of U.S. hospitals each year, and about 73 percent of them occur in homes. The person most likely to need your help is someone you know: a parent, a spouse, a neighbor.
Immediate CPR can double or triple a person's chance of survival. Yet only about 40 percent of people who collapse outside a hospital get CPR from a bystander before professional help arrives, according to the American Heart Association.
Hands-Only CPR is built to close that gap. It drops the rescue breaths that make many people hesitate and boils the response down to two steps anyone can remember.
- Call 911 when a teen or adult suddenly collapses.
- Push hard and fast in the center of the chest, keeping pace with a familiar song at 100 to 120 beats per minute, such as "Stayin' Alive."
Visitors then practice on training manikins while instructors coach hand placement, depth, and rhythm. No experience is needed, and the whole lesson takes just a few minutes.
The teaching team includes faculty and staff from the Department of Advanced Biomedical Education, along with affiliated instructors from the community and UMMC Hospital. Senior Traditional BSN students from N439 Population-Based Nursing are also putting their population health coursework into practice as volunteer instructors.
Why Simulation Belongs on the Midway
Simulation sits at the heart of how the RTC trains clinicians, and the same principle works for the public. Pushing on a manikin builds muscle memory and confidence that a video alone cannot. That confidence is often what moves a bystander to act instead of freezing.
Our goal is for every visitor who practices at the unit to leave ready to help at home, at work, at church, or in the stands on a Friday night
Find Us at the Fair
The 2026 Mississippi State Fair runs October 8 through 18 at the State Fairgrounds in Jackson. Look for the UMMC Resuscitation Training Core mobile simulation unit beside the Trade Mart building, and bring the whole family.
It takes only a few minutes to learn a skill that can keep someone you love alive until help arrives. Visitors who want to go further can find a full CPR course through https://ummc.enrollware.com/