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While death rates in the United States are declining, 38 million people die from noncommunicable diseases (NCD) globally, with cardiovascular disease (including heart disease and stroke) remaining the leading cause of death in the world. As part of our commitment to building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke around the world, the American Heart Association (AHA) today signed a formal memorandum of understanding with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) to advance CPR training and cardiovascular science sharing in the world’s most populous country. This effort marks a significant step forward in advancing the World Health Assembly’s goal of a 25 percent reduction in premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases by 2025.

The agreement intends to accelerate cooperation in three areas important to reducing the global burden of NCD.

1. CPR training and awareness initiatives to train people how to use CPR to save the life of someone experiencing cardiac arrest. With cardiac arrest, seconds count; immediate CPR from a bystander can double or triple a victim’s chance of survival.
2. Physician exchange to expand opportunities to convene researchers, healthcare providers, epidemiologists and public health specialists from the United States and the People’s Republic of China. The joint purpose is to share ideas, develop fellowship and advance programs that will improve systems of care, patient outcomes and overall health and wellness in both countries.
3. Cardiovascular science engagement opportunities will expand AHA’s global science-sharing efforts through AHA annual meetings, joint science sessions at other countries’ cardiology societies, and local science meetings to regularly share the best in science with leading scientists, researchers, and practitioners from the PRC and the United States.

This cooperative agreement offers another example of how we are working to significantly impact global health and further our efforts to create a world of lifesavers.  We are the only organization that provides multi-level first aid, CPR and advanced lifesaving training in more than 100 countries. Our resuscitation leadership combined with our experience in preventing and treating cardiovascular disease makes us uniquely positioned to meet this health challenge working with MOST.

Consider this:

• NCDs are China’s Number One Health Threat
• NCDs like diabetes, heart attacks, stroke, and cancer, kill more people globally and in China than infectious diseases.
• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), NCDs account for 70 percent of all deaths globally; however, NCDs are estimated to account for 87 percent of total deaths in China.
• Cardiovascular diseases account for most NCD deaths and cardiovascular diseases specifically account for 45 percent of total deaths in China.
• The population is aging in China, the world’s most populous country, and NCDs are becoming more common.
• Growing urbanization is one of the socioeconomic risks for NCDs. China’s urban population of more than 680 million people outnumbered its rural population for the first time in January, 2012.
• According to the WHO in 2011, 47 percent of adult males smoked tobacco in China.

“The knowledge to treat and prevent cardiovascular disease and stroke in one country can benefit people in many other countries. By training more people in CPR, more lives can be saved. More than 16 million people are trained in AHA First Aid, CPR or Advanced Life Support programs each year. Even if just a small percentage of the Chinese population learns CPR, that would result in millions more lifesavers in the world, who are prepared and ready to act in a cardiac arrest emergency,” said Gordon F. Tomaselli, MD, past president of the American Heart Association and director of the Division of Cardiology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. Tomaselli is one of the AHA volunteer representative for the U.S.-China High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange (CPE).

The memorandum of understanding agreement was signed today at a celebratory event at the Mayflower Renaissance in Washington, D.C. after the U.S.-China High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange (CPE). With the signing of the MOU, the AHA and MOST will now work together to create specific implementation plans for each of the three areas of the cooperative agreement.

I hope you are as excited as I am about this opportunity to create more lifesavers around the world. Check out some photos from today’s event below.

Each year, we celebrate National CPR & AED Awareness Week during the first week of June. We discuss the importance of learning CPR and the use of an AED throughout the year, but from June 1-7 we really step up our efforts while we own the spotlight. Five years ago we set some aggressive strategic goals to guide us in these efforts, based off of data from 2010:

• By 2020, double all out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival and dramatically increase in-hospital cardiac arrest survival for adult (double) and pediatric (50%) patients.
• Double CPR bystander response rate, from 31% to 62%, by 2020.

By achieving these goals we will save an additional 50,000 lives each year in the United States. At the halfway point, we’re already making some great headway toward our goals as survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest has already increased about 35% and bystander response rate has already increased by more than 45% according to the latest data.

One initiative we credit for this increase is CPR in Schools. We believe CPR training for America’s youth will be one of the best solutions to saving more lives in the long-term. CPR in Schools can reduce disparities in CPR and create the next generation of lifesavers by teaching students CPR before they graduate. Currently, 22 states have CPR legislation signed into law, adding more than 1 million trained Americans in our communities every year.

Spencer Hamilton is one of those students that was able to learn CPR in high school and become a lifesaver. This is his story:

Spencer Hamilton, a senior at Randleman High School, was stocking the bread at the grocery store where he worked when a customer asked him if he saw a lady that had passed out. The manager then called the employees to the front and asked if anyone knew CPR. Spencer had been trained in CPR two months earlier in his Health Occupation Science Class and said he knew CPR. He immediately started doing CPR and at first, he didn’t think it was working. Then after a couple of minutes, the lady started coughing and came back to consciousness. EMS arrived immediately after and took her to the hospital. Spencer now feels relieved and it makes him feel good he was able to help this woman.

Spencer believes people should learn CPR because you never know when you are going to need it. For him, it was just a normal day at work and then he needed it.

Diana Graves, a nurse that helped teach the Health Occupation Science class when he learned CPR, is very proud Spencer was able to help this woman.

This CPR Week, take a moment to learn how our CPR in Schools initiative is an integral part of saving more lives and increasing bystander CPR across all our communities. As our young men and women are stepping up to learn Hands-Only CPR, we encourage you to do the same. Take a minute to learn Hands-Only CPR at heart.org/handsonlycpr.

Note from John: First responders are key links in the Chain of Survival, and we celebrate this National EMS Week by thanking all of the wonderful emergency medical professionals for their tireless dedication, time and passion. This week is especially meaningful for Lucy Goulet, who not only can thank her son Steven for being an EMT, but also thank the nurse that gave him CPR and saved his life 9 years ago. I’ve asked Lucy to write a guest blog post to share her story with my readers so we can all acknowledge the importance of these unsung heroes.

On November 2nd, 2006, my son, Steven, 26 at the time, went out for a beer after work. After a short time, he put his head down on the bar and his friends couldn’t wake him up. His heart had stopped. They began yelling for help and called 911. Luckily, a nurse, Carol Petrin, had gotten off her shift early that night and was already there with friends. She immediately started doing CPR. At the same time one of my son’s friends had contacted us only saying that he had passed out and to come to the club they were at.

The nurse continued CPR but was getting tired and decided to quickly teach the patrons in the bar CPR and so they could continue while she took a breather. The police started doing CPR before EMS arrived and then EMS took over as soon as they got there.

My husband and I rushed to the club, but almost 15 minutes had passed. When we arrived we found paramedics over my son doing CPR and injecting his heart with medication to try to revive him. I immediately thought it was too late, too much time had passed. They were able to get a heartbeat after 22 minutes. He has since been diagnosed with Brugada Syndrome and has a permanent defibrillator and pace maker.

Steven is now working as an Emergency Medical Technician, or an EMT. He has a deep interest on cardiac conditions and wants to help save others like the EMS and first responders saved him that fateful night. Steven became an Emergency Medical Technician because he wanted to give back after this experience and save someone else’s life. He believes that if everyone knew CPR, it would save many people.

Lucy believes people should learn the correct way to do CPR because that is what saved her son. If the nurse hadn’t been there and hadn’t known how to do CPR, Lucy thinks Steven might not have survived – but he did and also did not suffer any brain damage.

Lucy wants to thank nurses and EMS Professionals everywhere for saving lives like her son Steven. Thank a first responder today by sharing our Vine below, and remind them we appreciate them for all they do.

What do the American Heart Association, Anthem Foundation and Street Corner Symphony all have in common? They want you to #keepthebeat and learn Hands-Only CPR, a capella style!

The scary statistic is that 70 percent of Americans feel helpless to act during a cardiac emergency because they don’t know how to administer CPR or they are afraid of hurting the victim. CPR, especially if performed immediately, can double or triple a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival. It only takes a minute to learn Hands-Only CPR and with 70 percent of all out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happening at home, the life you save is likely to be someone you know and love.

With funding from the Anthem Foundation, the American Heart Association is debuting a new Hands-Only CPR music-based training video, designed to showcase the simplicity and lifesaving benefits of Hands-Only CPR. The video features the unique sounds of the wildly-talented a capella group, Street Corner Symphony, and is available now at www.heart.org/handsonlycpr. Check it out here:

“For the past three years, we’ve been working closely with the American Heart Association to help educate people about Hands-Only CPR. To date, we’ve trained more than three million people in this lifesaving skill with the goal of preparing people to save the lives of perfect strangers, or those they love most,” said Lance Chrisman, Executive Director, Anthem Foundation.

Hands-Only CPR has just two easy steps: If you see a teen or adult suddenly collapse, (1) Call 9-1-1; and (2) Push hard and fast in the center of the chest to the beat of the disco song “Stayin’ Alive.”

What are you waiting for? Visit heart.org/handsonlycpr and share our video with your friends to #keepthebeat and learn how to help save a life!

About two years ago, we wrapped up a test pilot of our first Hands-Only CPR kiosk and installed it at DFW Airport in Terminal C, Gate 7. Since then, about 17,000 people have used it to learn this potentially lifesaving technique.

One such individual was 21-year-old college student Matthew Lickenbrock, who spotted the kiosk last month during a three-hour layover at the airport. “I went over just to check it out and maybe learn something. I actually had never learned CPR,” said Lickenbrock, an engineering major at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Lickenbrock completed the program three times over the course of about 15 minutes, scoring a perfect 100 on the final attempt.

Two days later he was driving to an evening class when he saw a flash of lightning that appeared to hit the engineering building where he was headed. Pulling into the parking lot, he saw a young man face down on the ground. It was 23-year-old Sean Ferguson, a marketing major who had been struck by lightning as he walked home from an on-campus meeting, according to university officials. He wasn’t breathing or moving.

Adjunct professor Jamie Obermeyer helped Lickenbrock carefully roll Ferguson onto his back and asked him if he knew CPR. “From then it was kind of a blur — a lot of adrenaline,” said Lickenbrock. “[I was thinking] what did I do two days ago at the kiosk? 100 beats per minute, compress two inches down.”

After a few minutes, Lickenbrock was relieved by Steven Pope, a nurse anesthetist who had been at the nearby recreation center. Pope soon detected a pulse. Lickenbrock’s quick action saved Ferguson’s life.

After nearly five weeks, Ferguson was released from the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. He plans to return to school in the fall and graduate in December.

“No one ever thinks they’ll use CPR,” Lickenbrock said. “You learn it but hope you don’t need to use it.” Lickenbrock said the CPR kiosk gave him confidence to act during the emergency. “It gave me the little bit of training I needed to know how to actually perform CPR,” he said.

As far as we know, this is the first story of a lifesaving event that we can attribute directly to our kiosk. “It’s thrilling to know a life was saved and to see a testimonial of the efficacy of this type of training methodology. The initial premise of the kiosk was to test the effectiveness of brief and engaging ‘self-directed’ learning sessions with immediate feedback on one’s performance and to see if more people can be reached via public settings, such as an airport,” said Merrilee Sweet, member of the AHA Community Market team that developed the kiosk.

Through a grant from Anthem Foundation, seven additional training kiosks will be installed in public places by the end of 2015, ready to train thousands of additional people and potentially save more lives.

I’d like to personally thank Matthew for his curiosity to train on the kiosk and more importantly – for acting fast and utilizing the skills he learned to save a life. We also wish Sean and his family the best as he continues his recovery and completes his education.

Our mission at the American Heart Association is to build healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, and one way we do that is to raise awareness about the importance of learning CPR. Our stand is that everyone should learn CPR and be prepared to save a life in the face of a cardiac event.

We work diligently to train the next generation of lifesavers, and that means reaching our audiences where they live, work, play and pray. While the use of CPR dates back to 1740 when the Paris Academy of Sciences officially recommended mouth-to-mouth resuscitation for drowning victims, we’ve continually evolved to be more innovative with our coursework, teaching methods and public outreach.

For example, we’ve been leading the effort to encourage bystanders to administer Hands-Only CPR if they witness a cardiac arrest. Our research tells us that chest compressions alone for an adult or teenager victim is better than no action taken – in fact, you can double or triple a victim’s chance of survival by performing Hands-Only CPR. In order to create a world of lifesavers, we’ve led the charge to require CPR training in schools around the country. We’ve been evolving from printed materials to electronic formats so that our science is quickly and accurately disseminated. Our brand-new RQI program (see video below) is improving patient outcomes with quarterly, quality CPR training for healthcare professionals. We’ve expanded our global outreach to help culturally-diverse audiences with our proven resuscitation research.

It’s a very exciting time for the American Heart Association, and I’m proud to say we are only just getting started.

We are extremely grateful for this recent coverage by Forbes magazine that talks about our organization’s transformation as a business to further our mission of saving lives. I encourage you to read it here and share amongst your family and friends: https://onforb.es/1KY8bmA

Nurses don’t necessarily have the extra time, but they do have extra big hearts. That’s why we’re so thankful for the hard work and dedication of nurses working tirelessly to improve patient outcomes. CPR saves lives, and nurses have an instrumental role in the chain of survival by providing lifesaving CPR daily. We can’t say it enough – thank you to all nurses for everything you do.

So, for my blog post we wanted to talk to a few nurses to find out what makes them passionate about what they do and why they think people should learn CPR:

+ Jacqueline Barrowitz, RN, CPN in the Short Stay Unit in the Emergency Department at Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth:

“I decided I wanted to be a nurse in 1970 when I watched an ER doctor put stitches in my arm. I am able to incorporate my skills with compassion and a healing touch to serve my pediatric patients and their parents in a fulfilling way.”

 “When I was a nursing student I was so excited to learn CPR and to know that I could possibly save a life. Over the years, the techniques have changed and improved – but the goal of saving lives is the same.  Perhaps someday, with the help of the American Heart Association, 100% of Americans will learn how to save a life.”

+ Yasmeen Khedery, RN, BSN in the Medical/Surgery Department at Texas Health Resources HEB

“Ever since I can remember, I loved to take care of, nurture, and teach people. Nursing is a profession that requires you to use your mind to promote health and safety, and your heart for healing and emotional support. It’s unlike any other job, you have so many roles with one title.”

 “CPR is a vital skill that can save someone’s life, it’s that simple! And the fact is that you never know when you may need it, but you will be so thankful in the case you ever have to use it. If you have the right education and the situation arises you will be more confident knowing you actually know what to do.”

+ Charissa Parker, RN, BSN in the Emergency Department at Baylor, Scott & White at Carrollton

“I became a nurse because it encompasses everything I love to do: learn, teach, and to care. It’s always challenging me which makes me love my job that much more. I am currently an emergency room registered nurse so CPR is quite important in my job. Everyone should learn CPR because it’s a key component to possibly giving someone another day to live. It’s known that early intervention of basic CPR by everyday civilians has saved numerous lives since they are the first to respond- not just us!”

Wow! What courageous nurses we have out there working hard every day to save you and your loved ones! We created this “Thank You” Vine (below) to recognize all of the wonderful nurses around the world. Do your part and say “Thank You” to a nurse this week and tell them how much you appreciate everything they do!

Yesterday, The Washington Post published an article to encourage and empower individuals to learn CPR and help save a life while humming “Stayin’ Alive.” We are extremely grateful for their coverage, and I encourage you to read it here: https://wapo.st/1FG65Dv

Did you know 326,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur annually in the US and 70% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen in homes and residential settings, meaning the life you save is likely to be someone you love? Sadly, 90% of people who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests don’t survive. We want to change these statistics. If performed immediately, effective bystander CPR can double or triple a victim’s chance of survival.

Our Hands-Only CPR Campaign started as a way to teach individuals that anyone can learn how to save a life in just 60 seconds with two simple steps: call 911 and push hard and fast in the center of the chest to the beat of “Stayin’ Alive.” AHA updated its guidelines in 2010 and started this campaign because immediate bystander response is a critical link in the chain of survival.

In 2010, we set aggressive 10-year strategic goals to guide CPR & First Aid impact by 2020 to:

• Double all out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival and dramatically increase in-hospital cardiac arrest survival for adult (double) and pediatric (50%) patients.
• Double CPR bystander response rate, from 31% to 62%.

By achieving these goals we will save an additional 50,000 lives each year in the United States. We’re already making some great headway toward our goals, as survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest has already increased about 35% and bystander response rate has already increased by more than 45% according to the latest data.

But we still have a lot of work to do. By training more individuals in CPR, we’re putting more potential lifesavers in our community and in your homes!

Through support of the Anthem Foundation, we are well on our way to training millions of people in Hands-Only CPR. Learn today at heart.org/handsonlycpr.

Note from John: For World Health Day, I’ve asked my colleague Kathryn Taubert, PhD, FAHA, to write a guest blog post. Kathryn is our Vice President of Global Strategies working closely with our CEO, CMO, myself and other American Heart Association (AHA) senior leaders to collaborate and establish partnerships with international organizations to broaden the AHA’s support of and impact on global health. Kathryn enjoyed a 25-year career at AHA that began in 1985 as a Staff Scientist / Science Consultant before being promoted to Vice President, Science and Medicine and then ultimately advancing to Sr. Scientist and Special Asst. to the Chief Science Officer before joining the World Heart Federation in 2010.

Did you know that globally, more than 200 diseases are caused by unsafe food? This leads to millions of people falling ill due to contaminated food or drinking water and up to 2 million of them die as a result. If you live in the USA or another developed country, you may not think about food safety very often; unfortunately, it is a huge global issue.

That’s why this year’s World Health Day theme is “Food Safety”, and calls on producers, policy makers and the public to promote this important issue. The global health awareness day is sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and has been celebrated annually since 1950 on April 7^th.

On World Health Day 2015, it is important to raise awareness of the issue of food safety. WHO asks us some pertinent questions, such as:

• What is in your meal?
• Where did the ingredients come from?
• Were they properly – and safely – handled from every stage, from farm to plate?

The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition wants to raise awareness that food safety is a worldwide issue and our food supply becomes more global every year.

Beyond this, we should ask ourselves if we really know what is in the food we purchase and consume. Even if food is free from contamination, is it “safe”?   Is it heart healthy?  Sometimes, that is a difficult question to answer.

People are consuming less fresh vegetables, fruits and whole grains and in the US and other parts of the world, there is more and more processed food being manufactured. Many of these foods are high in bad fats (saturated fat and trans fat), sugar and salt (sodium chloride). These ingredients can lead to weight gain, an increased risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, especially if consumed frequently.

When shopping for groceries, here are some helpful tips in making healthy food choices:

• Choose lean meats and poultry without skin and prepare them without added saturated and trans fat.
• Eat fish at least twice a week. Research shows that eating oily fish containing omega-3 fatty acids (for example, salmon, trout and herring) may help lower your risk of death from coronary artery disease.
• Select fat-free, 1 percent fat and low-fat dairy products.
• Cut back on foods containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils to help reduce trans fat in your diet.
• To lower cholesterol, reduce saturated fat to no more than 5 to 6 percent of total calories. For someone eating 2,000 calories a day, that’s about 13 grams of saturated fat.
• Cut back on beverages and foods with added sugars.
• Choose and prepare foods with little or no salt (sodium chloride). Reducing sodium intake can help lower blood pressure.
• If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation. That means one drink per day if you’re a woman and two drinks per day if you’re a man.

To help you better understand commercially prepared food labels, the American Heart Association has some food labeling tips: https://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/NutritionCenter/HealthyEating/Understanding-Food-Nutrition-Labels_UCM_300132_Article.jsp

Bon appétit and happy World Health Day!

– Kathryn Taubert, PhD

Spring is the perfect time to be outdoors with family and friends enjoying picnics, playgrounds and swimming in pools, especially as the temperature increases. While being near the pool is a great way to cool off, it can also bring dangerous situations like drowning. Knowing CPR and first aid can better prepare you for any situations that occur.

For Eli Thomas’s family, that situation came last August during a family trip to a relative’s home with a pool. Their 2-year-old son, Rhys, fell in the pool as he was exploring the backyard. Eli quickly pulled his son out by his ankles and gave him CPR he had remembered from an American Heart Association CPR training, a month earlier. In a few seconds, Eli had to put together everything he had learned to save his son. Rhys fully recovered from his near-drowning experience and now the Thomas family believes everyone should learn CPR.

“It is so easy to take a CPR course. And it is so important to do, so that in a moment of panic, you can still function,” Eli Thomas said. 

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