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CPR training goal launchedThe New Ulm Medical Center is launching an aggressive and potentially life-saving initiative in the latest leg of its Heart Health project: to train over half the community of New Ulm between the ages of 12 and 75 in CPR and the use of the Automatic External Defibrillator (AED). The goal is to complete this training by the year 2011. In the first phase of the Heart Health initiative, Heart Safe Communities placed 60 AEDs throughout the area with the help of the New Ulm Medical Center Foundation. Building on the success of that phase, the Community Focus Committee (a committee of the Medical Center’s Board of Trustees) – comprised of NUMC staff and physicians, and community members – agreed the next step should be to train the community in CPR. “CPR is an important part of what the American Heart Association calls the ‘Chain of Survival’,” explained Lori Burkhart, RN, Heart Safe Communities coordinator. The “Chain” includes early access (by calling 911), early CPR, early defibrillation (using the AED) and early advanced care (by local paramedics or emergency medical technicians). “That’s why this next phase is just as important as the placement of AEDs in the area.” Burkhart pointed out that heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, which prompted the CPR goal to become a priority. “We want everyone possible to learn CPR because statistics show that 60 to 70 percent of people who perform CPR do so on a loved one or family member,” Burkhart said. The statistics become more astonishing from there: a person’s chances of survival drops 10 percent with every minute that passes without CPR after a person has experienced sudden cardiac arrest. The New Ulm Medical Center Foundation has received two grants to help fund the implementation of this program, according to Foundation Manager Carisa Buegler. Medtronic awarded NUMC a $12,000 grant and Channing Bete awarded a $2,000 grant. The facility has also raised $3,500 in donations from its employees to support the CPR training goal. To accomplish the objectives of this goal, NUMC is calling on one of their educators, Deb Hertling, to coordinate the plan and assist in training more than 5,000 community members. Hertling is a CPR instructor and will oversee this community-wide training. Among the objectives that Hertling has been charged with is to organize free CPR trainings in the community in 2007. Dates for these programs have yet to be established. Another objective of the program is to distribute at least 300 CPR Anytime kits throughout the community. “The primary goal is to get these kits into the hands of people who are less likely to attend a mass CPR training but more likely to need to use CPR in their own home,” Hertling said. The CPR Anytime kits include a blow-up mannequin, a booklet and an instructional DVD that takes 20 minutes to complete. The CPR training provided on the DVD is appropriate for anyone, including youngsters, Burkhart said. “Our goal is to distribute these kits with the expectation that every person who receives the kit will train four additional people,” Hertling said. The kits also include face shields so that the mannequin is reusable in an appropriately sanitary fashion. “One of the things that we especially like about the CPR Anytime kit is that a family gets to keep the kit and can repeat the training as often as they would like,” Burkhart added. The trio of organizers plans to have some fun with the CPR Anytime kits, encouraging groups to have “challenges.” “We will start with our own employees at the medical center, distributing the kits among departments and then challenging them to see which department can train the most people,” Burkhart said. Another idea still in the planning stages is for NUMC to have a “lending library” of CPR kits that can be checked out by community members and used over and over again. These kits would include a real mannequin, the training DVD and face shields. “With the lending library, all kinds of groups would be encouraged to come and check out the kits: Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Sunday School groups, knitting clubs, book clubs, or just a group of friends who wants to learn CPR,” Burkhart said. “The advantage is that smaller groups could set it up for any time that is convenient for them and the DVD does all the training, you don’t have to have a certified CPR instructor there.” The initiative also includes a goal of formally training community groups during the year for free with a certified CPR instructor. These training sessions will be in addition to the community-wide CPR trainings and will be for groups who request the CPR instructor to come and present. Burkhart pointed out that even those who have had CPR training in the past may want to come back for additional training since the new CPR guidelines were introduced in 2006. “The new CPR guidelines focus on really feeding the body with oxygenated blood. Automatic External Defibrillators are not going to be as effective if CPR has not been delivered first,” Burkhart explained. “Two minutes of CPR is priming the pump – getting the body ready for the shock that it will receive from the AED.” Although the CPR training goal has been set by the New Ulm Medical Center, Buegler said, “We are looking for partners in this initiative. Our goal is for the community to be trained, whether it is by us or other CPR instructors.” Seeking out those partners will be a vital next step in ensuring the success of this life-saving initiative. “We are looking at acknowledging those who are already working on the initiative of saving lives in our community,” Hertling said. “Teamwork is an important component to this initiative.” Those who are currently instructing groups or individuals in CPR can add the numbers of people they have trained to this initiative by contacting Hertling at 507-233-1165. |
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New Ulm Medical Center
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