Kerri-Ann Hewett knows firsthand the value of good CPR training.

Hewett's mother, Geraldine, suffered cardiac arrest in their Waiau home May 2 and nearly died — but Hewett performed CPR and helped maintain Geraldine's pulse until Fire Department crews arrived and saved her.

The American Heart Association hopes that such stories will become more commonplace once it introduces new self-directed CPR kits at the Filipino Community Center in Waipahu Aug. 20.

AHA will pass out several hundred of the free "CPR Anytime" kits, which contain a practice mannequin, instructional DVD and booklet. Most of the training is learning proper breathing and chest-compression techniques.

The association hopes that people who wouldn't normally have time for a full-fledged CPR training class will be able to spend the 20 or 30 minutes required to learn from the kits at their leisure, then pass on their knowledge to friends and family members, said Don Weisman, Hawai'i communications director with AHA.

Hewett, 47, learned CPR from her firefighter father when she was a teenager. She also had to pick it up as a student aide for a Kamehameha Schools sailing program, Explorations, for fifth-graders.

"It's actually really easy — it's not a scary thing," Hewett said. "Some people might be afraid of it because they just don't know (about it).

"When you're called upon to do it, mixed with human instinct and adrenaline, it works. It's like riding a bike; once you know how, you always know how."

It was Geraldine's 76th birthday when it happened.

Hewett said her sister, Alicia, awoke to their mother's gasping at about 4 a.m. Alicia alerted Kerri-Ann, who ran into the bedroom.

"I found her unconscious, with her eyes rolled back," Hewett said. "I checked, and she wasn't breathing."

While Alicia dialed 911, Hewett, who had never given CPR in a "severe" situation before, proceeded to move her mother off the bed and onto the floor, where she could tilt her mother's chin back and pump her chest in a steady rhythm. She kept a pulse going until firefighters arrived — she wasn't sure how much time passed — and were able to revive Geraldine's heartbeat with defibrillation shocking machines.

Weisman said it's important for everyone to know CPR, but especially so for people over 40 who live with their parents. He said 70 percent of cardiac arrests happen in homes.

"You never know when you're going to need it," he said. Cardiac arrests happen to a lot to people who have a normal, healthy lifestyle," he said. "None of the normal (heart problem) signs of high cholesterol, smoking, or being obese apply. It's just a genetic problem that just happens one day. You can't predict who it happens to."

Weisman said in an emergency, people should call 911 first, then give CPR to the person, as Hewett did.

Hewett, an assistant professor in the University of Hawai'i-Manoa's College of Education, said she is hopeful a CPR class will someday become mandatory for teachers-in-training at UH.

Emergency Medical Services assistant chief Donnie Gates said EMS responded to 600 cardiac arrests in Hawai'i last year —but said he did not have figures for how many people survived.

The nationwide survival rate is about 5 percent, according to AHA.

The Heart Association selected Honolulu County as one of 12 preview sites for the kit handout program — dubbed "CPR Ohana" locally — which is expected to officially launch sometime in October. Weisman estimated the kits would retail for less than $50 after the launch date.

He said 54,051 people were trained in CPR by AHA in Hawai'i between June 30, 2004, and July 1, 2005; the company hopes that figure will more than double for the next year because of the Ohana kits, donated by a grant from the Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation.

One kit will be given to each family attending the clinic on a first-come, first-served basis, Weisman said.

Residents who wish to make a reservation to attend the CPR Ohana seminar in Waipahu should call 538-7021, ext. 25.

Correction: The name of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation was misspelled in a previous version of this story.