I received this bow tie quilt this week from the wife of a cardiac arrest victim who survived his event. People do and can survive a cardiac arrest and the goal of our organization is to make survival more commonplace.
This first month of our hands only CPR teaching has been tremendous. We have 3 incredibly bright and hardworking interns who have done a wonderful job. They have become so skilled at teaching CPR that they have given ideas on CPR instruction to the instructor who originally taught them.
The interns have taught 1,100 7th grade students hands only CPR at 3 different middle schools in Louisville. We have taught CPR at a dinner party, church health fair, a football team, a baseball team and at community centers. Today we crossed the 1,300 mark for people taught hands only CPR.
We have taught teenagers where the interns like to use the Be the Beat video and older teenagers and adults where we use the wonderful British Heart Foundation video starring Vinnie Jones. We have taught CPR at night and during the day; during the week and on the weekend. We have not had to say no to anyone who wants to learn CPR. I truly believe that these interns are going to make a difference in the future health of cardiac arrest victims in Louisville.
We are collecting demographic data and have taught someone CPR in each zip code in Louisville. We seem to be hitting our target demographic of the highest risk neighborhoods and populations. Further analysis will occur later.
This week has been a slower CPR teaching week and we have taken advantage of our physician mentors. The interns have had tremendous exposure to top physicians and subspecialties in medicine. This has been very gratifying for all of the parties involved. We are extremely grateful to all of our physician mentors.
As an organization, the big news this week was the arrival of our non-profit (501c3) status from the IRS. Better late than never. We also received another major sponsorship from Norton Healthcare in Louisville. This will keep the organization teaching CPR for free in the community in the future. We also received a generous donation from an individual donor today which is greatly appreciated.
This has been a great start for our organization and has required much hard work form many individuals. I am deeply touched by so many people’s willingness to help improve things in our community.
Bill
Remember in a cardiac arrest: 1. CALL 911 2. Push hard and fast in the center of the chest and stay alive.