“That number is way too low,” he said. “The national average is around 33 percent, so we are at the low end of the national average.”
To change that statistic, the Philadelphia Regional CPR Awareness Coalition, which is spearheaded by organizations such as the American Heart Association, The Red Cross, Penn Medicine, Jefferson Health, and the Health Care Improvement Foundation, came together in support of The Mobile CPR Project.
The Mobile CPR Project is a public health initiative to increase survival from sudden cardiac arrest in Philadelphia. The Mobile CPR team travels to different areas of the community to teach CPR at no cost. By educating people to feel more comfortable performing CPR, the program aims to raise bystander intervention for sudden cardiac arrest—which, in turn, saves lives.
After receiving a three-year grant funded by The American Blue Cross Foundation, the project launched in June 2016 with the goal of teaching 10,000 people how to perform bystander CPR by June 2019.
In Philadelphia, the average time it takes for an ambulance to reach the scene of an emergency is five minutes. In some areas of the city, it takes 15-20 minutes, which increases the need for educated and prepared bystanders to step in and perform CPR until the emergency medical team can get there. Last year, about 1,800 people went into cardiac arrest just in Philadelphia.
The No. 1 goal of The Mobile CPR Project: to train people to recognize cardiac arrest and learn CPR to increase the chances of survival for Philadelphia citizens.
“You really only need to know a couple of things to identify cardiac arrest,” Abdulhay said. “If someone isn’t responding and isn’t breathing, you need to call 911 and start chest compressions.”
Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating, which is different than a heart attack and can strike anyone at any time. Although it is terrifying to imagine, the best way to keep someone alive when this occurs is to do CPR.
“This is an awareness issue—it’s an education issue—because people are scared to do [CPR],” Abdulhay said. “People are afraid to hurt the person, and they don’t want to get in trouble.”
Because most of the times people experience cardiac arrest are in their home, having a friend or family member who knows the signs and is prepared to do CPR can save lives.
“You hear stories about survivors and the only reason they survived was because a bystander did CPR on them—because they were aware and they knew to call 911 and begin chest compressions,” Nabil said.
Benjamin S. Abella, director of the Center for Resuscitation Science at Penn Medicine, played a huge role in getting The Mobile CPR Project in motion as a way to get into communities that are underserved and where there is a direct correlation between high instances of cardiac arrest and low intervention rates, according to Abdulhay.
Using data analysis from experts at Penn, The Mobile CPR Project finds the specific areas to visit to bring its free instruction.
The Mobile CPR Project travels to businesses, community organizations, block parties, and health fairs, and it even sets up booths on neighborhood corners to facilitate training sessions—putting the “mobile” in its name.
If you live or work in Philadelphia and would be interested in scheduling a training session with The Mobile CPR Project professionals, visit the project website or its FAQ page.