CPR Saves Lives – Everywhere
RQI Partners is proud to be part of the American Heart Association, the global authority on heart health education, research, and CPR training. The mission of RQI Partners is to help save more lives from sudden cardiac arrest, a life-threatening event often caused by heart disease.
Each year, 350,000 Americans die from cardiac arrest. About 90 percent of people who experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital won’t survive. Yet CPR, especially if performed immediately, could double – even triple – a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival. We are joining the American Heart Association to share the importance of how bystander CPR can help save lives during a sudden cardiac arrest event.
This Heart Month, hear from survivors who have beaten the odds. When seconds mattered the most, CPR made the difference in whether friends, family, or loved ones survived. We’re honored to help share these stories of survival from some of our organizations who have found quality improvement resuscitation education helpful in saving more lives from sudden cardiac arrest.
Share your experience as a survivor or rescuer with us. Email us at RQIinfo@rqipartners.com. We want to help recognize heroes who have stepped in to save a life.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest Survivor Stories
Matt Wanex, Senior Therapist and Program Manager at the Center for Rehab Medicine at Acute Care Greater Baltimore Medical Center, was on vacation with his family when he found his father-in-law unresponsive one night. Wanex performed CPR to revive his life.
RQI education helped Laura Holden, a Nurse Practitioner with the Connector Service at Primary Children’s Hospital Intermountain Healthcare, leap into action to sustain the life of her aunt until she was able to get the medical attention needed at a hospital.
On November 7, 2021, MedStar dispatcher Valerie Carson was working her shift when a frantic 911 call came to her console. A woman was reporting her father was found unconscious and not breathing. Valerie knew time was short and she needed to calm the caller enough that she would comply with telecommunicator CPR (T-CPR) instructions. Read Post
PENCOM dispatcher Brooke Pucciarelli was working her shift and received an urgent 911 call for a man in cardiac arrest. The caller reported the patient had not been feeling well and was making strange snoring sounds. Dispatcher Pucciarelli immediately recognized that the patient was likely in cardiac arrest and began working with the caller to get the patient in the proper position for CPR. Read Post
Each link in the (adult) Out-of-hospital Chain of Survival has an impact when properly executed to increase survival likelihood from sudden cardiac arrest. Like any chain, the chain of survival is only as strong as its weakest link.
Learn more about the 2020 American Heart Association Guidelines for CPR and ECC algorithms here.
Download our Heart Month Zoom backgrounds to share in your workspace. Thank you for all you do to help save lives from sudden cardiac arrest.
For RQI Community members, please visit the Resuscitation User Network (RUN) to access additional resources. Sign in here
Download Be The Beat Heart Month Zoom Background Images (16×9)
Be the Beat with Hands-Only CPR
If you are called on to give CPR in an emergency, you will most likely be trying to save the life of someone you know or love. This year, we encourage you to join the American Heart Association with its CPR Challenge. They are challenging every household to have someone who knows CPR, to Be The Beat for their family, friends, and community. You can watch a 90-second Hands-Only CPR instructional video and share it. Even better, watch it with your friends and family so you all learn together.
The two steps of Hands-Only CPR are to call 911 and push hard and fast in the center of the chest. Use a familiar song to help you keep up the pace of 100-120 beats per minute.
How to perform Hands-Only CPR on a female cardiac arrest victim.
How to perform Hands-Only CPR on a male cardiac arrest victim.
