Last October at Highlands Intermediate School, a 13-year-old boy suffered sudden cardiac arrest while exercising in the gymnasium. Teachers rushed to his side, hoping to keep him alive with CPR until paramedics arrived.

John Harvel of the Federal Fire Department coaches downtown worker Eva Hurgo on administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The American Heart Association is sponsoring the free classes held in the Hawaiian Electric Industries training room. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

It was the right response, but the boy died.

His death, however, will help the American Heart Association of Hawai'i with its most important mission: increasing the number of people who know cardio pulmonary resuscitation ­ a relatively simple procedure proven to save lives.

At Highlands, nearly 120 teachers, administrators and custodial, cafeteria and clerical workers requested a class in CPR, said Principal Jane Himeda.

"Some of the teachers were saying, 'What if it happened in my classroom?' " Himeda said. "It is not only good for the school, but good for the teachers in their personal lives as well."

The heart association is pushing to reduce deaths nationwide from sudden cardiac arrest by 25 percent by 2010.

That daunting goal is compounded by a life-and-death delay that seems to defy common sense: O'ahu residents are taking longer to dial 911 when someone is suffering from sudden cardiac arrest.

The Honolulu Fire Department, which helps the association with CPR classes and awareness, said that callers waited 8 minutes and 17 seconds last year, up 17 seconds from the year before. That time has been on the increase since 1997, when callers waited 7 minutes and 49 seconds.

"Local people are embarrassed," said Dory Clisham, a volunteer with the heart association. "They are afraid to call an ambulance, thinking, 'What if I made a mistake?' "

Immediately calling for help is essential to the victim's survival. But CPR provides a vital link. Without CPR, the brain starts to die in four to six minutes, Clisham said.

"It gets oxygen to the brain," she said. "It buys you time."

The delay contributes to many deaths, according to Honolulu Fire Department statistics for 2001.

Emergency crews responded to 367 cases of sudden cardiac arrest, but only 73 were treatable. Only six people survived.

That 8.2 percent survival rate is just slightly higher than the heart association's estimate of 5 percent for the state, which it bases directly on the number of people trained in CPR. Statistics have shown a direct correlation between the number trained and survival.

Having such a small population trained in the procedure creates a huge element of luck in a person's survival.

"If you catch them in time, that is where the miracle occurs," said Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Dave Takehara. "The saves that we have are coincidental. By chance."

Takehara trains firefighters how to use automated external defibrillators, a portable device that can revive someone in cardiac arrest. The devices are on every O'ahu fire truck, in 300 police cars across the state, with lifeguards on county beaches and in hotels and high-rise office buildings.

The heart association is focusing attention on teaching CPR to schoolchildren.

The idea is simple: Targeting high school sophomores creates a renewable source of citizens who will know CPR.

"We go out and teach the teachers," Clisham said. "I'm real excited about this."

But success has been limited, said Donald Weisman, communications director for the Hawai'i chapter. Only 29 of the state's 54 public and private high schools are participating in a program that began last fall.

The association wants teachers to learn how to teach CPR.

"But the teachers have to do the training on their own time and the schools don't have the money to provide substitutes while they are out training," Weisman said. "The teachers are not going to do it on their own time and we don't have the funding to pay for substitutes."

Instead, the association has sent its own volunteers to teach students directly.

"It is working but I don't know how long it will continue," Weisman said.

Five high schools ­ Castle, Campbell, Punahou, St. Louis and Kamehameha ­ have found the money to hire substitutes so teachers can become certified CPR instructors.

Weisman said about 3,000 students will be trained by the end of the school year.

At Pearl City High, the teachers started their own program five years ago. With the help of the heart association and fire department, they train about 650 freshmen a year, said Marcia Miyasato, one of three teachers who started the program.

The student response has been overwhelmingly positive, Miyasato said. One of the strongest messages they get during the course comes from the fire department. It's the idea that even a teenager can save a life.

"When the fire department comes in they give them that," she said. "They say: We have seen too many people go down. You can save a person, someone in your family. Are you just going to stand there horrified or are you going to step in and help?"