If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes just as much teamwork to save a life. Last week, community partners like Beacon and Saint Joseph Health Systems, Gurley Leep Automotive Group, the University of Notre Dame and others helped enFocus pull off its fifth Save a Life hands-on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) mass training at Four Winds Field.
More than 1,600 eighth graders from schools throughout St. Joseph County gathered to learn the life-saving skills of CPR from dedicated EMS, police, fire, and medical volunteers in our area. Each student received a take-home CPR manikin kit and some homework: Use the manikin to teach hands-on CPR to family and friends.
The intent of the mass training is to drastically increase the number of St. Joseph County residents trained to revive individuals who go into sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). Studies show immediate CPR response by bystanders significantly improves survival in the event of SCA, a leading cause of death in adults over 40.
“If you are able to apply hands-on CPR or a defibrillator within a minute of sudden cardiac arrest, survivability increases significantly. As you approach 10 minutes, that’s when survivability approaches zero,” Andrew Wiand, president of enFocus, said.
A heart to improve outcomes
Dr. William Sarnat, a now-retired cardiologist, is the impetus for the program. He was alarmed by 2015 data from multiple local health systems that revealed St. Joseph County had an out-of-hospital SCA survival rate of just 5 percent, which is consistent with national outcomes but no less disappointing. Health officials, including Sarnat, believed a lack of community awareness and low bystander intervention rates were key contributors.
So Sarnat approached enFocus with the challenge of coming up with a concept that would drastically increase the number of citizens trained in CPR. enFocus accepted the assignment. “ We started by modeling international best practices for CPR mass training,” Wiand said.
enFocus brings focus to projects
enFocus is a unique local nonprofit, launched in 2012, with the mission of attracting young professionals to St. Joseph County for fellowships. enFocus matches its fellows with regional organizations to work on high-impact projects. The intended outcomes are to provide innovative solutions for the partners and meaningful professional experiences for the fellows — hopefully inspiring young talent to stay in our region.
Sarnat and Wiand convened an out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrest (OHCA) task force that led to the creation of Save a Life. Since the program launched in 2017, they have trained more than 5,600 St. Joseph County eighth graders in CPR — and the good news doesn’t stop there.
“Our studies show that each student who learns hands-on CPR trains another three people, so this program has trained about 15,000 people in St. Joseph County,” Wiand said.
Also since 2017, the survival rate of out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest in St. Joseph County has increased two points, to 7 percent.
Why 8th graders?
So what makes eighth graders the perfect age to train a person in CPR?
“By eighth grade, they are curious, they’re confident, and they’re really competent to do CPR. And because the kids come from all over St. Joseph County, they are a diverse group and they are going to get the message to everyone,” Sarnat said.
These eighth graders who attended the Sept. 13 event seemed to understand the training and their homework. (Click on their photos to read their responses.)
There’s room for more partners
People like Notre Dame Fire Chief Bruce Harrison have been involved in the planning and execution of the Save a Life program since its start. He sees it as community partnering at its best, and there is room for more partners.
“This program is at the five year mark and we have to evaluate who is going to assist us in the coming years and what that sponsorship entails.This is an important program and I believe it does have an impact and it’s critical to our community," Harrison said.
With inflation causing many organizations to tighten their budgets, Harrison says some sponsors have had to curb their financial support of Save a Life. The group could use more healthcare providers, universities, businesses, and more to provide sponsorship support, volunteers, etc. to ensure Save a Life will continue well into the future. (Contact Andrew Wiand, president of enFocus, at a.wiand@en-focus.org if interested in supporting Save a Life.)