Union Bank, American Heart Association Take Home Judges’ Special Trophy for Rose Parade® Float Keep the Beat Alive

The award-winning float celebrated a new law that requires CPR training
of most California high school students; Amazing stories tell how CPR
saves lives

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Union
Bank
and the American
Heart Association
(AHA) Western States Affiliate were named “Judges’
Special Trophy” winners for their 2017 Rose Parade® float,
Keep the Beat Alive. The Judges’ Special Trophy is presented
to the float with “outstanding showmanship and dramatic impact.”


“We are thrilled that the Tournament of Roses has chosen to honor the
Union Bank and American Heart Association Rose Parade float with the
Judges’ Special Trophy,” said Pierre Habis, head of Union Bank Consumer
Banking. “The mission of our float was to promote the American Heart
Association’s important initiative to encourage Hands-Only CPR training,
especially of our youth. We hope that this trophy will garner even more
attention for this important cause.”

In addition to promoting Hands-Only CPR through its float, Union Bank
and the American Heart Association trained more than 3,000 people in
Hands-Only CPR during float decorating days and the post-parade Showcase
of Floats in Pasadena, California.

“We are honored to receive the 2017 Rose Parade Judges’ Special Trophy
for outstanding showmanship and dramatic impact,” said Kathy Rogers,
Executive Vice President for the American Heart Association Western
States Affiliate. “We are especially proud of our amazing float riders
whose stories dramatically illustrate the power of CPR training to
saving lives, and grateful for Union Bank’s commitment to supporting our
efforts to create a community of lifesavers.”

Union Bank and the AHA’s award-winning float featured youths who
saved lives by performing CPR, as well as the people they saved, and
honored the passage of a new California law that will provide Hands-Only
CPR training to thousands of high school students each year. The float
embodied the parade’s theme Echoes of Success, by honoring teen
lifesavers and the future generations of potential lifesavers the new
legislation will create.

The float riders, who came from three different Western states and
ranged in age from 11 to 75 years, stood on the float’s 55-foot long
floral piano keyboard and among its four eight-foot tall floral drums.
The musical elements represented the beat of the heart and incorporated
the correct rate for CPR – 100 to 120 compressions per minute.

The float also featured a nine-foot tall illuminated heart-shaped DJ
booth/stage where Ilisa Juried, a Los Angeles-based
singer/songwriter/dancer/actor who survived cardiac arrest at age 18
because bystanders performed CPR, performed to the original song, Live
Your Life
, which she co-wrote and recorded. A CPR dance team
comprised of 28 local Crenshaw High School and Abraham Lincoln High
School students walked alongside the float and engaged the audience with
a CPR-inspired dance choreographed by Juried.

The 15 CPR heroes were (detailed bios and headshots available on
request):

  • Darian and Eunique Latchison, ages 16 and 12; Irene Sample, age 75,
    Bakersfield, Calif.

    Darian Latchison was desperate to save
    the life of the woman who rescued him from homelessness and took in
    his sister at birth. Irene Sample collapsed after walking home in
    107-degree heat. Darian’s sister Eunique called 911 while Darian
    performed chest compressions. “I kept thinking ‘No, you’re not going
    yet. You have to see me graduate high school,’” Darian said. Irene,
    who was required as a licensed foster parent to maintain a CPR
    certification, had brought Darian and Eunique along to her CPR
    training.
  • Daniel and Jonathan Tyshler, ages 13 and 11; Boris 69, Seattle,
    Wash.

    Daniel and Jonathan Tyshler were enjoying their
    vacation in Southern California when their grandfather collapsed while
    driving on the 405 freeway. Jonathan moved his grandfather’s head to
    ensure blood flow while Daniel called 911 and began the compressions
    he had learned the previous semester in school. CPR was critical –
    Boris was without a pulse for 14 minutes.
  • Nathan Boyer, age 14; and Issac Wenrich, age 27, Chandler, Ariz.
    Making
    new friends after his family moved across country was tough for Nathan
    Boyer, but his baseball coach was always there to give him a pep talk
    or make him laugh. In March 2016, Nathan and coach Isaac Wenrich were
    practicing baseball drills when Isaac suddenly slumped to the ground.
    Nathan began CPR, which he learned as a Boy Scout, and passed Isaac’s
    phone to a bystander to call 911.
  • Steve and Lewis Griffith, 66 and 15, Forestville, Calif. (Sonoma
    County)

    Lewis Griffith was watching TV when he heard a crash
    and found his father on the floor. He called to his mom to dial 911
    and to his mother’s amazement, Lewis knew just what to do. Lewis had
    received CPR training in school three months earlier – he began CPR
    and continued for five minutes until paramedics arrived to relieve him.
  • Madi Giese, age 17, Manhattan Beach, Calif.
    As a young
    girl collapsed on the tennis court, dozens of onlookers called 911 but
    seemed frozen in shock. Madi Giese rushed to the girl’s side,
    performing a dozen chest compressions before the girl coughed and took
    a breath. Madi had learned CPR through the Junior Lifeguard Program.
    “Because of my CPR training, I had the confidence to act. I was
    determined to save her life,” Madi said.
  • Skylar Berry, age 13, Rio Linda, Calif.
    When a classmate
    was pulled from a swimming pool – unresponsive – Skylar Berry went
    right to work administering CPR, continuing chest compressions until
    an adult could take over. Skylar, then 11, had learned hands-only CPR
    just three months earlier. A week after the incident, she co-founded a
    CPR club at her school to teach others the life-saving skill.
  • Celine Showman, age 42, Oceanside, Calif.
    Celine Showman
    still can’t remember the night she took her then eight-year-old
    daughter Megan out to a sushi restaurant. As her mother slumped off
    her stool, Megan started her mom’s “chain of survival” by calling for
    help. Three Navy Corpsmen from Camp Pendleton appeared – one took
    Megan away while the others began CPR. The woman and two men had just
    returned from a deployment in Iraq.
  • Melissa Ziebell, age 35, Pasadena, Calif.
    Nearing the
    finish line of the Paris Half Marathon, Melissa Ziebell was ready for
    her souvenir snapshot. The last thing she remembers was her legs
    giving out. Two young girls trained in CPR came to her aid. An avid
    athlete, Melissa was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect and
    underwent open heart surgery. She still wonders what might have
    happened if she had suffered cardiac arrest while alone on a training
    run, rather than near volunteers who were trained in life-saving CPR.
  • Ilisa Juried, age 29, singer/actress/songwriter, Los Angeles
    Before
    Ilisa Juried appeared on The CW’s reality show Pussycat Dolls
    Present: Girlicious
    , her heart stopped in New York’s Grand Central
    Station. Juried saw a group of hip-hop dancers performing and joined
    in. A few moments later, she collapsed. Three bystanders started CPR,
    continuing for 30 minutes until paramedics arrived and shocked
    Juried’s heart back into a normal rhythm.

For three decades, Union Bank and the American Heart Association have
united in the fight against heart disease and stroke, the nation’s No. 1
and No. 5 killers of both men and women.

Union Bank has been engaged in multiple aspects of the AHA’s work,
including fundraising, education, volunteer leadership, employee
involvement and health messaging. In the last nine years alone, the
bank’s employees and clients have donated more than $8.6 million in
support of the AHA’s critical research, education, and prevention
programs. 2017 will be the second year that Union Bank has joined with
the AHA in presenting a Rose Parade float.

In September 2016, the California State Legislature passed a law that
will require Hands-Only CPR training for a majority of high school
students. The bill will create a new generation of potential CPR
lifesavers who can make the difference in the first critical moments
when a person suffers cardiac arrest. Approximately 90 percent of people
who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests die. CPR, especially if
performed immediately, can double or triple a cardiac arrest victim’s
chance of survival.

Follow the Keep the Beat Alive float on Facebook
and Twitter
using #CPRSavesLives.

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart
disease and stroke – the two leading causes of death in the world. We
team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for
stronger public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and
information to prevent and treat these diseases. The association is the
nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting
heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call
1-800-AHA-USA1, visit heart.org
or call any of our offices around the country.

About the Pasadena Tournament of Roses®

The Tournament of Roses is a volunteer organization that annually hosts
America’s New Year Celebration® with the Rose Parade® presented
by Honda, the Rose Bowl Game® presented by Northwestern
Mutual and a variety of accompanying events. For more information, visit www.tournamentofroses.com.
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube and
visit our blog at blog.tournamentofroses.com.

About MUFG Union Bank, N.A.

MUFG Union Bank, N.A., is a full-service bank with offices across the
United States. We provide a wide spectrum of corporate, commercial and
retail banking and wealth management solutions to meet the needs of
customers. We also offer an extensive portfolio of value-added solutions
for customers, including investment banking, personal and corporate
trust, global custody, transaction banking, capital markets, and other
services. With assets of $116.9 billion, as of September 30, 2016, MUFG
Union Bank has strong capital reserves, credit ratings and capital
ratios relative to peer banks. MUFG Union Bank is a proud member of the
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (NYSE: MTU), one of the world’s largest
financial organizations with total assets of approximately ¥293.7
trillion (JPY) or $2.9 trillion (USD)¹, as of September 30, 2016. The
corporate headquarters (principal executive office) for MUFG Americas
Holdings Corporation, which is the financial holding company and MUFG
Union Bank, is in New York City. The main banking office of MUFG Union
Bank is in San Francisco, California.

1 Exchange rate of 1 USD=¥101.12 (JPY) as of September 30,
2016

Contacts

Union Bank
Carolyn Janda, 949-735-4516
carolyn.janda@unionbank.com
@UnionBankNews
or
Nina
Ronstadt, 619-224-3186
nina@ninaronstadtpr.com
or
American
Heart Association
Kristine Kelly, 213-453-9277
Kristine.Kelly@heart.org

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