In general, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) represents a significant public health problem; it constitutes a leading cause of death for adults over the age of 40. In 2016, several doctors in St. Joseph County noticed that the survival rate for St. Joseph County residents who experienced an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest was half of the national average. Something needed to be done.

 

In the case of OHCA, bystander intervention in the form of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) leads to increased OHCA survival rates. If administered in the first five minutes of cardiac arrest, CPR can double or triple a person’s chance of survival. As over 70% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the home, the likelihood of survival decreases exponentially without this sort of bystander intervention. Furthermore, research shows that training young adults in CPR using take-home "CPR Anytime" kits creates a multiplicative training effect; on average, each child trained shares this training with an additional 2.5 people using their take-home CPR kit. How could we use this knowledge to enact change within the community?

 

In August of 2016, enFocus and the Saint Joseph County hospital systems convened with the doctors who originally observed the OHCA alarmingly low survival rate in Saint Joseph County to form a local task force designed to develop multiple programs that could increase communal knowledge of both CPR and bystander intervention. There was a clear goal: if we could raise awareness in these areas, we could help save lives.

 

Soon, this group realized that an annual CPR Mass Training Event would be the most effective means through which to generate a sustained, community-wide impact. At Four Winds Field in 2017 (and with the help of local financial sponsors), the task force, dozens of volunteer emergency responders, and regional healthcare providers held the first-annual, day-long mass training in which over 1,200 eighth graders from the South Bend Community School Corporation, the School City of Mishawaka, and a number of St. Joseph County Parochial Schools gathered to learn how to respond to a victim of sudden cardiac arrest using hands-only CPR. This event has come to be know as Save A Life: St. Joseph County. Since then, we have conducted similar events in 2018, 2019, and 2022--and we have directly trained over 3,900 students. 

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Incredibly, these students have demonstrated an elevated desire to train additional community members. Over these first three years, students have trained an average of 2.85 additional trainees. Considering this multiplicative effect, Save A Life: St. Joseph County has directly or indirectly trained over 11,000 residents. Our goal is to train nearly 20,000 people by 2023. Together, we can save lives.