PITTSBURGH, PA--Joe Farrell, PT, M App Sc, DPT, FAPTA has been elected to serve on the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation Board of Directors. Dr. Farrell recently retired as a Doctor of Physical Therapy after 40 years of clinical practice. For over three decades he has been involved in post graduate education as Senior Clinical Fellowship faculty member of the Northern California Kaiser Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapy Fellowship program. He has served on five professional boards during his physical therapy career and is currently serving as Secretary of the PulsePoint Foundation, an Advisory Consultant for the Via Heart Project, and member of the Advisory Committee of the HeartSafe Committee (HSC) of the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District (SRVFPD) in San Ramon, California.
Joe is a survivor of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (2009) and as a lay bystander has saved two lives using CPR. He and his wife Edie are American Heart Association (AHA) CPR/AED instructors who are committed to giving back to their community. Over the past five years the HSC of the SRVFPD has trained over 25,000 citizens in CPR/AED use and has instituted a successful 7th grade CPR/AED training program in the local school district. For the past three years Joe has organized a mass CPR/AED training week in the San Francisco Bay Area for the AHA which has trained thousands of Bay Area citizens.
Joe’s commitment to saving lives is exemplified by his volunteerism and speaking experiences at various AHA and Resuscitation conferences. He was chosen a “50 for 50 Golden Anniversary Survivor Honoree” by the CItizen CPR Foundation in 2010 and the Greater San Francisco Bay Area AHA Community Volunteer of the Year in 2015.
Joe is committed to raising awareness in the USA and around the world so that Sudden Cardiac Arrest becomes a “household” diagnosis, similar to other co-morbidities that plague communities. He wishes to stimulate more research into the “real” causes of SCA and to increase research funding into this national medical epidemic.
"We are honored that Joe Farrell is joining our team," said Mary Newman, MS, President. "We have great respect for his in-depth knowledge of sudden cardiac arrest, his experiences as a rescuer and a survivor, and his active efforts to 'pay it forward' to save more lives."