33 States Now Require CPR Training Before High School Graduation. What Are the Others Waiting For?

June 1-7 is National CPR-AED Awareness Week. It's time to start teaching all students CPR and how to use automated external defibrillators (AEDs) before high school graduation. Flashback. It was 30 years ago. I was moving from New Jersey to Indiana and I only had a few days left before heading… Read More

CPR Realities

Your ability to perform CPR has nothing to do with strength - it is determined by your weight, your weight distribution, the stiffness of the victim's chest, and the method of chest compression - manual (with then hands) or heel ( with the heel of the foot.) Use of heel compression quadruples the… Read More

Join or Support Our Team Today!

Take a step for survival. Join the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation team at the Highmark Walk for a Health Community in Pittsburgh, PA, on May 14th. Can't walk with us that day? You can still support the team by donating here.About 1,000 people experience sudden cardiac arrest every single day in… Read More

Is It Sudden Cardiac Arrest or Heart Attack? They’re Not the Same.

Understanding the Difference Could Save Your Life Did you think sudden cardiac arrest and heart attack are the same thing? They’re not. But most still mistakenly believe they’re one and the same. We even see the confusion play out in the mass media and popular TV and films every day. If more people… Read More

Survivor Runs to Raise Awareness about Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Without any warning, in September 2015 I suffered from and luckily survived a sudden cardiac arrest. The DC Half Marathon (Rock & Roll DC) will mark six months from when I was discharged from the hospital. This year will be my third R&R DC and is very different from past years. Many of… Read More

From Fear to Faith… Reflections of a Wife and CPR Lay Rescuer | Jennifer Chap

I woke up today on Rick’s 4th re-birthday since his Sudden Cardiac Arrest on 2/27/12. I walked into our kitchen and just stared at the floor where it happened; and I wept. Today I am sharing my very personal side of our story that I have shared with very few… These feelings and memories are as… Read More

Heart Attack Patients Are At Risk of Sudden Cardiac Arrest. But Ray's Story Brings Hope.

Ray 2. Death 0." My recent blog described the difference between sudden cardiac arrest and a heart attack. One key distinction is that while the heart attack patient is awake and the heart is beating, the sudden cardiac arrest patient is not awake and the heart is not beating. Sudden cardiac arrest… Read More

An Elegy for Maggie Dixon

MAGGIE DIXON The time cadets rushed on the court To carry you off in a large tumult Of crisp fatigues from long grey lines, I’ll remember that one every time. Too young to think you have to die, Too young to be in poetry. Too young to have a last regret, Too young to die in your footsteps. And now… Read More

Día de Muertos

I am not from Mexico but I do celebrate Día de Muertos with our good neighbors to the south, even if it is for different reasons. On Nov first 2012 , I stopped into the cafeteria of my engineering firm to pick up some breakfast. I walked to my desk and began preparing my work for the day. I was… Read More

I love to tell how I survived SCA just because I can!

It was a cold, but dry day in Saintfield, Northern Ireland. The 17th January 2011 was to be the day that we finalised an insurance claim for our business, which had been very badly water damaged by burst pipes in the apartments upstairs. On the way home we called at the shop. There were workmen… Read More