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AHA Awarded International Grant for Saving Children’s Lives

**UPDATE: Friday, April 4th, 2014**

International training faculty, SCL program coordinator and our graduates.

Our very first Saving Children’s Lives Instructor training took place in Botswana from 3/31 – 4/1 and was a resounding success. Over the course of two days, we graduated seven novice instructors. They have since implemented their new instructor skills for a new provider class of 17 participants.

 

 

**Original Post: March 20th, 2014**

I am pleased to share with you that the American Heart Association has been awarded our first international grant of $290,300 from the Asmund S. Laerdal Foundation, in support of our new international program, Saving Children’s Lives.

 

 

 

Today, more than four million children under the age of five die each year in limited resource countries, and we know that many of these children’s lives can be saved by increasing basic knowledge and skills of front-line healthcare workers. Our world-recognized expertise in both emergency cardiovascular care and systems change, along with our partner, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, a leader in pediatric emergency care, make us uniquely qualified to help drastically reduce the current mortality rate and to improve the systems of care.

The purpose of Saving Children’s Lives is to significantly reduce the Under Five Mortality Rate, by providing basic, yet critical, pediatric emergency care training to frontline community health workers and integrating the training into the health care system for sustainable, long-term results.

With a successful demonstration pilot in Botswana completed, and encouragement from the Botswana Ministries of Health, Saving Children’s Lives will continue to deepen work in Botswana and will expand into Tanzania during this initial implementation phase. As we further prove and grow the program, we are seeking additional funding to scale the program into other areas of Sub Saharan Africa, as well as other countries across the globe.

On behalf of the AHA, I want to express our gratitude to Laerdal for helping to fund this initiative and potentially save millions of children’s lives. I also want to thank AHA Volunteer Dr. Peter Meaney, for his work serving as the Medical Director for the program.

We will continue to keep you abreast of the latest developments of the Saving Children’s Lives program.

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AHA Employee Saves Newborn Puppy with CPR!

AHA’s very own Alicia Pederson, Science Committee Manager for Emergency Cardiovascular Care Programs and a seasoned AHA Instructor, harnessed her CPR skills to save the life of her newborn puppy. Alicia wasn’t sure if CPR would help, but she knew she had to do something, and sprung into quick action, clearing the puppy’s airway and then delivering “mouth to snout” breaths and compressions. IT WORKED! Her story inspired us all and showed us that quick action really can make a life or death difference!

Read Alicia’s remarkable story on AHA’s blog!

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Improving Cardiovascular Care in China

One of our guiding values at the AHA is improving and extending people’s lives, and I’ve had the pleasure recently to be part of global meetings striving to do just that. Earlier this month, our joint AHA and Chinese Society of Cardiology (CSC) Senior Management Group (SMG) had a highly productive series of meetings in Beijing to kickoff our collaboration and development of quality improvement programs for Acute Coronary Syndrome and Atrial Fibrillation in China.

The project will be called Improving Care for Cardiovascular Disease in China (CCC) and builds on the AHA’s 13 years of experience implementing Get with the Guidelines® in the US. The first phase of the project will establish a patient care registry and recruit the first 75 hospitals to participate in the program. Within 2 years it is expected that more than 200 hospitals throughout China will be participating in the program.

I’d especially like to thank Louise Morgan for her outstanding effort preparing and facilitating the meeting with her China counterparts. During our meeting, I also transitioned my role on the SMG to Kathryn Taubert, who I know will do an outstanding job.

Members of the AHA/CSC Senior Management Group include Prof. HUO Yong, Prof. GE Junbo, Dr. Sydney Smith, John Meiners and Kathryn Taubert, Ph.D., as well as project coordinators Louise Morgan, Prof. ZHAO Dong, and Prof. LIU Jing. While we were in Beijing, we also kicked off the 2nd year of our AHA Professional Resource Centers (PRC) with more than 80 key opinion leaders from hospitals throughout China in attendance. Improving the quality of patient care and Get With The Guidelines® and was the key topic of the three-hour education seminar, with AHA volunteers Dr. Gray Ellrodt and Dr. Sid Smith as key presenters. The AHA PRC program is a year-round Professional Education Series that involves 91 Chinese hospitals.

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Building a New Generation of Heroes

Our community-based CPR & First Aid initiatives would not be possible without the help of generous sponsors. At the American Heart Association, we are passionate about educating and training as many people as possible in lifesaving CPR skills, and one of the ways we strive to accomplish this is through our CPR in Schools program. Ross Stores recognized the importance of this mission and mirrored our passion for educating the next generation of heroes.

Through an in-store cash register campaign that ran in 1,132 Ross stores across the country for four weeks in January and February, the retail chain and its patrons raised a whopping $2.77 million to support CPR in Schools. One hundred percent of the money raised during these two months will be donated to benefit the national program.

 

Ross customers were able to get a sense of the impact this campaign would have by reading about real life CPR heroes and survivors like Tommy Watson and Caleb Tisdale that were featured on in-store promotional flyers. These brave kids give the CPR in Schools program a face and validate the need for such an important fundraiser.

We would like to thank Ross and their customers for their generosity and for recognizing the importance of creating more heroes like Tommy and Caleb.

For more information on our CPR in Schools program, please visit www.heart.org/cprinschools.

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AHA Earns Award At Global Healthcare Summit

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of representing the AHA at the highly successful and productive American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) Global Healthcare Summit in Ahmedabad, India. The AAPI’s overarching mission is to assist and enable Indian American Physicians to excel in patient care, teaching and research in professional and community affairs.

While there, I participated in key leadership meetings and shared the global role and vision of AHA during the AAPI-AHA Liaison Committee at the summit. I was quite humbled to be recognized by the Health Minister of India, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, and the Cabinet Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Mr. Vayalar Ravi, for our organization’s strategic collaboration toward the common goal of reducing mortality from heart disease and stroke.

This trip exemplifies the progress of our global efforts. We currently have International Training Centers in more than 60 countries, and we look to expand our global footprint to improve worldwide survival rates and quality of life with our lifesaving CPR programs. We stand committed to the AAPI goals and plan to roll out programs focused on India in the near future. In fact, we are considering opening an office abroad in New Delhi, and Baroda Medical College in Gujarat, India is in the process of applying to become an AHA International Training Center.

Exciting things to come in India…stay tuned!

Fun Fact: Ahmedabad, India was home to Mohandas Gandhi – considered the father of the Indian independence movement. While in India, Gandhi’s obvious virtue, simplistic lifestyle, and minimal dress endeared him to the people. Many civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., used Gandhi’s concept of non-violent protest as a model for their own struggles.

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A Special 9-11 Thank You to EMS & First Responders

On this 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, we at the American Heart Association send a thank you to the EMTs, First Responders and every other worker at the scene that day saving lives.

CEO Nancy Brown wrote on Huffington Post how she appreciates all the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to save others. She also shared the story of Dr. Glenn Asaeda, the chief medical director of New York’s fire department. Asaeda’s experiences on Sept. 11, remind us that FDNY was handling other emergency calls that day, as well as responding to the terrorist attacks.

While many Americans notice the significant work of first responders during historic events like Sept. 11, I want to encourage everyone to appreciate what these individuals do daily. I’m proud that our CPR & First Aid teams work directly with EMS professionals, provide them with the tools, instruction and certifications they need to continue saving lives.

Thank you, First Responders and EMS Responders. We appreciate all you do.

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Waiting for your plane at DFW? Learn Hands-Only CPR!

Amanda-Rae Garcia, left, of the DFW Airport Live Well Center, looks on as American Airlines Lead Program Nurse Cindy Contreras tries out a hands-only CPR kiosk after an American Heart Association press conference unveiling the machine at DFW Airport, gate C7, on Tuesday, July 9, 2013 in Dallas, Texas. (Brandon Wade/AP Images for AHA)

Now, when you’re waiting for your next flight at DFW, you can put that time to good use and learn how to save someone’s life!

The AHA and American Airlines Occupation Health Services are helping passengers learn and practice lifesaving Hands-Only CPR at Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport. The Hands-Only CPR kiosk, allowing hands-on practice with an actual CPR manikin and automated watch-while-practice CPR program, is now located in Terminal C, Gate 7 and will be there for the next six months. 

The touch screen kiosk’s video program gives a brief introduction to the steps of Hands-Only CPR, followed by a practice session and a 30-second CPR test. The kiosk provides feedback about the depth, and rate of your compressions and proper hand placement.

“Every American should know the simple steps of Hands-Only CPR,” said Ahamed Idris, M.D., a spokesman for the American Heart Association and professor of Surgery and Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “We hope the Hands-Only CPR kiosk at DFW Airport really takes off – we’d love to see other high-traffic places do the same so more people can learn this lifesaving skill.”

We’re so excited about this revolutionary new program that takes us one step closer to making sure every American knows the simple skills to save a life!

 

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Hands-Only CPR Summer Tour Update

Learning Hands-Only CPR at Anthem, Waukesha, WI

This year, CPR Week (June 1-7) was immediately followed by the June 11 kick-off of the Hands-Only CPR Mobile Tour in Milwaukee, WI.  Through support of the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, we are well on our way to training thousands of people in Hands-Only CPR in June and July.  Last week we were joined by many special guests including Milwaukee Fire Chief Mark Rohlfing, Beth Sawant – a bystander who successfully performed CPR, “Hearty” the American Heart Association mascot, and hundreds of citizens who came out to learn CPR.  Then in Cleveland we were joined by Richard Strain, a man who on May 19, 2013 collapsed while running a half marathon and was saved by prompt bystander CPR, EMS transport, and his physician Dr. Gandhi.  We’ll continue to update you as the tour progresses through various cities in Ohio.

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CPR in Schools victory in AHA’s home state!

CPR in Schools will soon be a reality in Texas! This past Friday, Gov. Rick Perry signed legislation that makes Texas the 11th – and largest – state to require CPR education for graduation from high school. The law goes into effect for the Class of 2015.

This is quite a milestone because of the sheer numbers involved. Texans comprise 9 percent of all high school graduates in the country, or 280,000-plus students per year. That means that by 2020 there will be well more than a million more Americans equipped with this lifesaving knowledge from the Lone Star State alone. Of course, there will be many more CPR trainees from the other states that preceded Texas in passing this legislation. Those states are: Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Georgia, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont and Washington. For more information visit www.BeCPRSmart.org.

Special thanks go out to AHA’s You’re the Cure network of advocates, staff who signed 100-plus petitions, those who sent nearly 13,000 emails sent to lawmakers and all who helped to spread the word about AHA’s efforts!  

We also want to thank Gov. Perry for his support.  If you would like to join us in doing so, please click here.

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Happy EMS Week!

This week is National EMS Week (May 19-25) and AHA is celebrating these lifesaving heroes who make up a large percentage of the CPR & First Aid Training Network.
We’ve teamed up with Setla Film Productions and the First Responder Network to create this “thank you” video to EMS.
We’re so grateful to have EMS professionals as part of the AHA team serving toward the mission of increasing survival. Please join us this week in celebrating them!