One unbearably hot day last summer, I waited in a long, snaking queue to get on a ride at Canada’s Wonderland. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a slumping figure. I squinted toward the head of the line to see a young-ish, presumably preteen girl crumpled onto the grassy spot next to the line. She looked visibly distressed, but no one - not her friends, not anyone around her in line - seemed to be doing anything to help her.

I stood so far away that I couldn’t tell if perhaps I overestimated her condition; maybe she was just pretending, feigning a swoon to get some attention. I could see people looking at her and then looking around at one another. But still, no one approached her.

As she continued to slump there, I worried for her, figuring she was likely suffering heat exhaustion and dehydration. The line kept inching forward toward the ride, and she feebly moved forward alongside her friends. By the time I reached the head of the line, she and her friends were long gone.

For the rest of the day, though, I felt a gnawing guilt that I hadn’t tried to help her, offer my water … or something. More than that, I wondered why no one else - out of all the hundreds of people in that line - had stepped forward to at least check on her condition.

After that experience, I was *still* really surprised when I read a shocking stat about folks in Toronto …

As it turns out, Toronto bystanders have the unfortunate distinction of being some of the least responsive folks in the developed world when it comes to stepping in and administering CPR to someone suffering a cardiac arrest. According to research conducted by St. Michael’s Hospital, only 1 in 3 Toronto bystanders would step in to do the life-saving procedure that can quadruple a person’s chances of surviving.

The researchers encourage all Canadians to learn the basics of CPR:

via Eureka Science News: “Even if you perform hands-only CPR, and focus on compressing the chest, you can give a victim of cardiac arrest as much as a 1 in 2 chance of surviving,” says Dr. Marco Di Buono, Director of Research at the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, “on the contrary, doing nothing virtually guarantees the victim will not survive at all.”

November is CPR Awareness Month, so what better time to brush up on the basics or learn the skill for the first time. The Heart and Stroke Foundation has links to help you find a CPR training courses in your area. At the very least, know the steps you can take before help has arrived.

Come on Toronto - prove the stats wrong!