PITTSBURGH–The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation has announced its 2012 People Saving People(TM) award program to honor 'ordinary' people with extraordinary heroic spirits who help save the lives of victims of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). The purpose of the program is to increase awareness about the critical need for laypersons to be prepared to intervene in sudden cardiac emergencies.
Nominees should be individuals who helped save the life of an SCA victim, but had no work-related duty to respond to the victim. Lifesaving actions could include one or more of the following: calling 9-1-1 or the local emergency phone number, providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or chest compressions, and using an automated external defibrillator (AED).
The first place winner will receive an AED and free admission to the Emergency Cardiovascular Care Update (ECCU), sponsored by the Citizen CPR Foundation, September 11-15, 2012, in Orlando.
Nominations should be sent to info [at] sca-aware.org (preferred), faxed to 724-935-6044, or mailed to the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, 7500 Brooktree Road, Wexford, PA 15090 by July 13. The award winner will be notified by August 1 and announced during ECCU. The award winner and nominees will be recognized on the SCA Foundation website. For nomination details, click here.
Susan Koeppen, KDKA TV News Anchor and SCA Survivor Nominates Her Rescuers
Susan Koeppen, KDKA TV News Anchor and SCA Survivor, shown here, has nominated her rescuers, Vanessa Franco and Ranmal Samarasinghe, University of Pittsburgh medical students, who happened to pass by when she collapsed while jogging and performed CPR to help save her life.