Penn Medicine launches mobile CPR Project to combat cardiac arrests

Every great initiative begins with a good story. For the Mobile CPR Project, the story began three years ago in Radnor, Pa. Police officer Anthony Radico, 46 at the time, was nearing the end of his routine when he suddenly went into cardiac arrest.

Fortunately, Amanda Beal, who had recently learned CPR, was also at the gym and close by. By the time the ambulance arrived, Beal had been performing CPR for nearly 10 minutes.

Anthony Radico lived to see another day, but his life, sadly, is only one life saved out of the many that go unsaved when cardiac arrest strikes unexpectedly. According to Penn Medicine, cardiac arrest kills more than 1,000 Philadelphia residents each year, yet the numbers of of bystanders who performed CPR in Philadelphia is half of the national average.

“Cardiac arrest is such a lethal problem in the United States,” said Dr. Benjamin Abella, director of clinical research at the Penn Center for Resuscitation Science. “The prompt delivery of bystander CPR is one of the key ways to improve survival.”

According to the American Heart Association, 70 percent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen in homes. Only about 46 percent of people who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest get the immediate assistance they need before professional help arrives.

The Mobile CPR project started as a community initiative in Hartford, Conn., and its main goal is to bring the resources and trainers to communities where children and adults may not have the resources to learn CPR. The program is able to work with communities in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas that it would have not initially reached.

In recognition of this glaring problem that is affecting the citizens of Philadelphia, experts at Penn Medicine’s Center for Resuscitation Science and the Department of Emergency Medicine recently launched the Philadelphia Mobile CPR Project.

The project aims to continue the success of the Hartford Project, to certify as many people as possible in Hands ­Only CPR using only an informational video and a 30-minute training period.

The initiative in Hartford educated 5,000 citizens in this reformed version of CPR, known as Hands­ Only CPR. Hands­ Only CPR eliminates the need for mouth-to-mouth breathing, and thus facilitates the learning process and administering of this type of CPR.

The project initiated participation with an introductory mass ­training event that was held on June 7th at the WHYY studio in center city.

Major funding for the Mobile CPR project has been provided by Independence Blue Cross, which aims to bring project organizers to communities in and around Philadelphia.

CPR Anytime kits will be provided to participants to the training so that they can show family members and educate them, increasing the number of people with Hands ­Only CPR certification.

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