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Many Hands make Light Work

Three years ago this June, the American Heart Association decided to take CPR to the streets. Literally… We outfitted a trailer, sourced a street team and began a cross-country campaign teaching Americans the two simple steps of Hands-OnlyTM CPR:

  1. Call 9-1-1
  2. Push hard and fast in the center of the chest to the beat of the Bee Gee’s “Stayin’ Alive”

We made learning CPR fun and exciting, incorporating music, dancing and community. After three years, 18 tour stops and countless disco moves, we’ve trained over 16,000 people and will wrap up the tour with our final six cities this fall. Please visit www.heart.org/handsonlycpr for more information on our Hands-Only CPR campaign and mobile tour.

A Hands-Only CPR Tour stop during CPR Awareness Week 2014

A Hands-Only CPR Tour stop during CPR Awareness Week 2014

This CPR Awareness Week I’m reflecting on the impact our collaboration with the WellPoint Foundation has had over the past three years. This musical road trip would not be possible without their generous support. They saw the value in this mission and the benefit of using music to educate people about CPR. Moreover, they helped us bring Hands-Only CPR to communities all over the country, spreading awareness and teaching skills that will ultimately save lives.

Our community efforts extend to the Latino population as well. Did you know that, in the United States, Latinos are 30 percent less likely to have someone perform CPR when they suffer a cardiac arrest? As our very own Comilla Sasson points out in her blog for Huffington Post (link), it is now more important than ever for ALL communities to learn Hands-Only CPR. Please take a moment to view our new training video here.

Equipping Americans with lifesaving skills is not an easy job, but many hands make light work. We are grateful to WellPoint, our staff, Volunteers and Instructors who have made the tour a tremendous success. Happy CPR Awareness Week!

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AHA Staffer Lives the Mission, Saves Grandmother’s Life

Heartsaver Hero Awards are a special honor we give people who’ve used their CPR training to save a life. I’m always inspired by our Heartsaver Heroes, and it made me extra proud to recently recognize our own Mayur Patel, account manager for MD/DC/VA, with this special honor for saving his grandmother. Nothing makes me happier than to learn of how our own AHA family is living the mission.

Mayur had finished a day of account visits and had just gotten home to his parents’ house in Clarksburg, MD, where he was visiting for the weekend. He was upstairs when he heard very uncharacteristic noises and loud voices occurring downstairs, and realized something was wrong.

He went downstairs and found his parents around his paternal grandmother, who was on the couch. She was not moving and had poor color. The other three people in the room thought she had just passed out and were trying to wake her up.

Mayur recognized quickly it was worse than the others thought, and took charge of the situation. He told them to call 911 and positioned her to perform CPR.

“It was surreal,” Mayur said. “I really didn’t have to think; the training came back to me.”

He performed CPR for about eight minutes (but it seemed much longer than that) until EMS professionals from the local fire department arrived. The professionals took over for him and performed the pitcrew approach, according to Mayur. Before arriving at the local hospital his grandmother was shocked three times, and had a pulse on arrival, despite re-arresting a couple of times.

“She was in a coma and sedated about two day days, then she slowly woke up and had a couple-day period of more alertness and memory improvement,” Mayur said.

Mayur enjoys some time with his grandmother at home

Mayur enjoys some time with his grandmother at home

Thankfully, Mayur’s grandmother is now home with some needed supportive care, but is improving in strength and memory every day.

Mayur said his role at AHA and his CPR training made all the difference in helping save his grandmother’s life. While he’s happy she’s on the road to recovery and was glad he was at the right place at the right time, he hopes he never has to relive this experience again. We hope so too.

As we celebrate EMS Appreciation Week, I would like to recognize Mayur and the Montgomery County Fire Dept. for living the AHA mission and using your CPR training to save a life! We applaud your courage!

Happy EMS Appreciation Week!

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World Congress of Cardiology Update

G’Day from Australia! Each year, the American Heart Association trains more than 14.5 million people around the world in CPR, first aid and advanced cardiovascular care. In addition to the domestic conferences we attend, we work tirelessly to spread our AHA mission to our international audience as well. One of the highlights at the World Congress of Cardiology meeting in Melbourne this past weekend was the spotlight Hands-Only™ CPR live action training at the American Heart Association booth. We’re thrilled that approximately 600 scientific and healthcare thought leaders from around the world participated in this training experience and received a CPR Anytime® kit to take back to their hometown.

World Congress of Cardiology thought-leaders learn Hands-Only™ CPR in Melbourne.

World Congress of Cardiology thought leaders learn Hands-Only™ CPR in Melbourne.

The AHA is a founding member of the World Heart Federation, the host of the biennial meeting. A significant focus of the meeting was around the recently established WHO goal of reducing non-communicable diseases, also known as chronic diseases, by 25% by 2025. Cardiovascular disease accounts for more than 60% of these NCD deaths, meaning the work we do has an extraordinary impact everywhere to help save lives. The international team is working hard to extend the mission globally via advocacy efforts, science and research collaboration and sharing programs like Hands-Only CPR in more countries. As we work hard to achieve our 2020 Impact Goal, remember that our collective effort each day matters – you’re helping to save lives!

Thanks for all you do on behalf of our lifesaving mission!

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CPR in Schools Continues Momentum

As we continue our efforts to produce future generations of lifesavers, I’d like to acknowledge some tremendous momentum we’ve gained during the most recent round of state legislative sessions since last fall. As a reminder, our CPR in Schools effort advocates for states to make CPR training – including the use of an automatic external defibrillator (AED) – a requirement for high school graduation.

At the time of this blog post, 15 states had already passed legislation with recent policy victories in Idaho, Mississippi and Maryland. We’ve also made great progress in Utah and Indiana. Utah appropriated significant money that will provide teachers with the resources they need to support CPR training in schools. We still have some work to do in Indiana, where the law currently allows for schools to opt out of the requirement. Despite these caveats, we are proud about the work we’ve done, and we’re hopeful both of these states, along with many others, will eventually sign bills into law that mirror legislation in the other 15 states.

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signing Breanna’s Bill, requiring CPR for graduation in Maryland.

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signing Breanna’s Bill, requiring CPR for graduation in Maryland.

Congratulations to AHA’s Advocacy team for their policy work and to our Community CPR team, who is working to put training solutions into action in states. Through these relentless efforts, the AHA is coming ever closer to creating and empowering the next generation of lifesavers!

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Dana Vollmer Has the Heart of a Champion

On Sunday, July 29, 2012, Olympic swimmer Dana Vollmer won the gold medal and set a world record in the 100-meter butterfly.

Her victory goes beyond winning gold – she also defeated a heart condition that could have stopped her heart and her swimming career. When Dana Vollmer was 15 years old she began having dizzy spells. As a precaution, her parents took her to a cardiologist at Cook Children’s Hospital in Dallas where they learned that she had an irregular heart rhythm. They also discovered that she had Long QT syndrome, a cardiac electrical disorder that can cause potentially fatal arrhythmia.  Dana continued to practice and compete with an external defibrillator available nearby.

After her freshman year of college she underwent a series of tests and they detected no signs of long QT syndrome. Doctors don’t know exactly why, but she may have outgrown it.

In addition to being a champion swimmer, Dana Vollmer is also a proud ambassador for the American Heart Association.

Please join us in congratulating Dana for her Olympic gold!

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North Carolina Legislation Makes CPR a Graduation Requirement

I am thrilled to announce that CPR training is now a graduation requirement in the state of North Carolina!  House Bill 837, which will take effect in the 2014-15 school year, was signed yesterday by Governor Beverly Perdue (see photo to the right), who said, “I can think of nothing that we’ve done this year that has any more profound and long-lasting effects on the health and wellness and survivability in North Carolina from any kind of heart attack or incident.”

 

While North Carolina has had CPR instruction as part of the standard course of study since 1997, training was not tracked in any way. With the new law in place, it will be. The law also establishes a Chain of Survival Task Force tasked with determining how NC can place an AED in all state-owned buildings. Finally, it directs the State Board of Education to work with the AHA and other national organizations to develop a plan for implementation of CPR training.

 

The bill signing marks the first victory for the CPR in Schools policy goal this fiscal year and the fourth this calendar year (following TN, MN and VT). Please join me in congratulating the Mid Atlantic Affiliate volunteers and staff, and tenacious bill sponsor Representative Becky Carney, for their tireless efforts in making this happen. We are one step closer to ensuring that every American receives lifesaving CPR training!