Forty-one individuals and organizations in New Jersey were recently honored at the American Heart Association 2016 New Jersey American Heartsaver Awards for their life-saving efforts. The American Heart Association’s American Heartsaver Awards is held annually to commend individuals, organizations and schools throughout the Garden State for taking extraordinary steps to strengthen the American Heart Association Chain of Survival or for rescue efforts that saved a life of someone experiencing a cardiac emergency.
The Chain of Survival is only as strong as its weakest link. The American Heart Association Chain of Survival is a critical five-step process that can mean the difference between life and death for someone experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, heart attack or stroke, as well as other medical emergencies such as choking and drowning. The five critical steps or “links” in the Chain of Survival include:
Link # 1: Early Access (know the warning signs of sudden cardiac arrest, heart attack and stroke and call 9–1–1 immediately)
Link # 2: Early Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)
Link # 3: Early Defibrillation
Link # 4: Early Advanced Care
Link # 5: Integrated Post-Cardiac Arrest Care
Nearly 350,000 people suffer cardiac arrest outside of a hospital every year, and only 10 percent survive. Given immediately, CPR doubles or triples survival rates and executing the Chain of Survival can save thousands of lives annually.
Burlington County and Virtua recently received an American Heart Association 2016 New Jersey American Heartsaver Award for taking extraordinary steps to strengthen the chain of survival in their communities. The awards ceremony was held at the Robert Wood Johnson Hamilton Center for Health and Wellness in Mercerville, NJ.
Virtua and Burlington County launched an innovative mobile app to help save lives within Burlington County. Andrew Reid and Anthony Cascio accepted the award on behalf of the organizations. Using location-aware technology, PulsePoint alerts CPR-trained persons in a public place to someone nearby in sudden cardiac arrest who may require CPR. This free app is the first of its kind to be used in Southern New Jersey.
When a 9–1–1 call alerts dispatch to a cardiac arrest victim, the PulsePoint app is activated by the Burlington County public safety communications center while notifying local emergency responders and Virtua paramedics. When activated, anyone within a quarter mile who has downloaded the app will receive a push notification with the location of the emergency, along with the location of the nearest known publicly accessible AED. To date, the app has been activated with CPR trained users to help save SEVEN lives in Burlington County.
The American Heartsaver Recognition Program is an initiative supporting the American Heart Association’s efforts to strengthen the Chain of Survival in our communities as an effort to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans while reducing death and disability from heart disease and stroke by 20 percent by the year 2020.
Anyone can learn CPR and everyone should. Visit www.heart.org/handsonlyCPR for a short instructional video that could help save a life.
