The facts

Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is the leading cause of death in the United States, claiming more than 300,000 lives annually. Approximately 95 percent of SCA victims die before they reach a hospital or receive medical attention.

How Can We Help Reduce This Number?

Susan B Davis, Lee Health’s Program Manager, Resuscitation and Education, leads a community-wide initiative to develop a HeartSafe Program for our community. Citizens CPR Foundation, which carries out resuscitation awareness in the US, has an initiative known as HeartSafe. Susan is on the Board of that group for the country and serves as the chair of the HeartSafe initiative in Lee County. The goal is the reduction of deaths from Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) occurring in the community.

This can be achieved by enco uraging: –

• Widespread hands-on CPR
• AED awareness

Four key lifesaving elements improve survival for cardiac arrest victims:

1. Early Identification – Promoting awareness of the signs and symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest to encourage bystanders to call 9-1-1 immediately.
2. Early CPR – Increasing the number of individuals trained in Hands-only CPR increases the chance of effective defibrillation.
3. Early Defibrillation – Increasing access to and awareness of automated external defibrillators (AED) throughout the community, a critical survival link.
4. EMS Intervention – Basic and advanced care provided by EMS is critical. Steps 1-3 by the public aid EMS give the best chance for a cardiac arrest victim’s survival.

Once the SCA victim collapses, they have about five minutes to receive an AED shock to reset the heart’s rhythm. Without the AED shock, the chance of surviving decreases by 10 percent every minute that life-saving measures are not initiated (early identification and activation, early CPR, and early defibrillation). So, you have one shot at initiating this important skill, which is why you have first to call 911 or have someone else do that and quickly carry out CPR and use the AED machine. Most would agree it is a skill worth learning!

Susan and Lee Health (connected to Lee County EMS) want to encourage Estero to become a HeartSafe designated community. So how can that be achieved? Every HOA or other community in Estero, church, and other organizations should become involved. Schools, FGCU, and other educational establishments are already involved in the program.

Each community or organization can achieve a HeartSafe designation by:

1. Having AEDs that can be easily located and accessed in the community.
2. Have 15% of the individuals in the community/organization able to administer CRP and have knowledge of AED usage.
3. If Estero achieves 15% of residents equipped to carry out hands-on CPR, it will become a HeartSafe designated community.

Conveying the information and teaching large numbers of individuals in each location can be conducted using a pyramid system. Initially, several people should become “champions” for their community or location. These individuals will be trained to pass on their knowledge to others who can do the same until there is ample knowledge in each community/organization to become HeartSafe.

To be eligible, an organization must complete an application and meet certain criteria, which include ensuring an adequate number of individuals are trained in hands-on CPR and that automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are available within a certain distance.

Molly Grubbs at Lee Health Coconut Point has agreed to be the liaison person at Lee Health and should be contacted by those who want to encourage their communities and other organizations to start becoming HeartSafe. Molly’s email is molly.grubbs@leehealth.org.

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Engage Estero is an all-volunteer, nonpolitical, nonprofit Community Engagement Association. We exist to inform citizens of significant community issues and encourage citizen engagement to impact the quality of life in greater Estero favorably.

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