The Department of Emergency Medicine received a $25,000 gift from the Andra Heart Foundation to support a Community First Responder CPR Training Course.
The course would be a hybrid online and in-person early first responder CPR training that would teach the public how to recognize cardiac arrest, when to activate the 911 system, what to expect when they do call 911, how to initiate and perform high-quality CPR, and finally how do use an AED. The training will highlight the need to perform all of these interventions in cooperation with the responding EMS providers and what early first responders should expect during these very stressful times. The training would include a 15-30 minute on-line module followed by an in-person hands-on CPR skills training session.
“The training will be tailored to meet the needs of not only the community, but the unique scenarios that first responders experience,” said Amber Rice, MD, assistant professor of emergency medicine. “The training would prepare very early first responders, such as teachers, coaches, police officers, and community leaders, to be part of the high-performance CPR team.”
The Andra Heart Foundation was started by the parents of Andra Jane Dalrymple, a high schooler who died of an undiagnosed heart condition. The foundation supports screening programs and educating in the community about sudden cardiac death.