Chandler Community Honors Late Teen Preston Lord with Youth CPR Training Event

A CPR training event for youth will honor Preston Lord, a teenager who tragically died after being assaulted at a Halloween party in Queen Creek in 2023. Lifeguards and others tried to save him by performing CPR, giving his family time to say goodbye before he passed away two days later in the hospital. The event aims to remember Preston’s life and promote community spirit, as reported by

ABC15

.

In honor of Preston, his family has teamed up with the Chandler Police Department and the Valley of the Sun YMCA to offer CPR training to youth. The event, scheduled for December 7, aims to teach lifesaving skills and encourage social responsibility. The Chandler/Gilbert Family YMCA is welcoming participants ages 11-18 from across the Valley.

Taking place more than a year after Preston’s ill-fated encounter, this initiative is grounded in the harsh reality of sudden loss, touching on a collective nerve. “As small as it may seem, it meant the world to us,” Melissa Ciconte, Preston’s stepmother, recalled in a September interview with

ABC15

.

While the December event stops short of offering certification, participants will leave equipped with a voucher enabling them to pursue a full certification course at no cost, as outlined by Brolsma. This instructional day is envisioned as the first of potentially many, with aspirations to turn it into a recurring opportunity responsive to the community’s heartbeat.

“Hopefully they never have to put it to use, but if they do, they at least have some core memory of doing this that they can go right into the appropriate actions to elongate or potentially save a life,” Brolsma told

ABC15

as the first training seeks to amass at least 100 sign-ups with slots still available for interested parties. Parallel to this positive movement, a reflection piece from the

Chandler Independent

emphasized the communal wound left by the tragedy, describing it as “just as senseless” a year after the event.

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