Arizona SHARE efforts significantly increase bystander CPR training across the state

Partner:  Arizona Department of Health Services

Geography:  Arizona

 

Background:  SCA survival rates increase with improved bystander response. Arizona’s SHARE  (Save Hearts in Arizona Registry & Education) Program promotes a comprehensive, standardized system of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest care throughout the state, encompassing all “links” in the chain of survival – bystander response, emergency medical dispatcher CPR instruction, Emergency Medical Services provider resuscitation, and standardized care at specially designated cardiac-arrest-receiving hospitals. More than 122 EMS agencies and 37 hospitals participate in the program.

The Story: Since 2004, the SHARE program has focused on raising bystander CPR rates. It was the first program to train laypersons to deliver compression-only CPR. The Arizona SHARE program has trained thousands of people across the state through training classes, video viewing, and other marketing methods including a 6-minute YouTube video on compression-only CPR, which currently has more than 5 million hits and counting. Visit www.azshare.gov for links to YouTube videos.

Additionally, a public service announcement was created and aired on Phoenix cable access and in movie theaters. And in Tucson, CPR was promoted during a University of Arizona basketball game as part of “Be a Lifesaver, Tucson.”

The Arizona’s SHARE website offers a large number of resources and tools targeted for SCA survivors, the general public and other groups (businesses, schools, hospitals) that can be used to improve awareness of SCA and to encourage bystander CPR training.

Learnings:  The SHARE program tracked bystander CPR rates across the state and found the multiple efforts paid off. More than 100,000 people have been trained, and bystander CPR increased from 28 percent of cardiac arrests in 2005 to 40 percent in 2009. This increase in bystander CPR was associated with increased survival as well, with more than 1,000 survivors since 2004.

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