A poster on the Cardiac Arrest Survivor Alliance was presented at the American Heart Association Resuscitation Science Symposium on November 16, Chicago, IL
Cardiac arrest survivors often experience physical, cognitive, emotional, and social challenges that can linger for years. Co-survivors (loved ones) and lay rescuers can also experience distress.
Support for survivors, co-survivors, and lay rescuers has been lacking. To support these individuals, Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation (SCAF) built the Cardiac Arrest Survivor Alliance™ (CASA), using the Mighty Networks (MN) platform. SCAF launched CASA in January 2023.
CASA offers:
- Evidence-based information about common challenges post survival
- Easy connection with peers
- Access to experts
- Webinars and meetups
- Pathways to further clinical support.
To measure impact, we examined CASA’s community engagement and growth from early June 2023 – early June 2024.
We built CASA using MN and assembled a leadership team that includes clinicians, researchers, and survivors with expertise in survivorship. We recruited members through SCAF’s existing Survivor Network and outreach via SCAF’s website, newsletters, and social media. Additional recruitment resulted from articles about CASA in multiple national news outlets, Internet searches, conference presentations, partner collaboration, and member invitations. We obtained analytic reports through MN to evaluate CASA’s growth and engagement during the past 12 months.
By June 2024, there were 1,434 community members from the U.S. (92%) and 26 other countries. Approximately 65% of members are survivors. Other members include co-survivors (22%), advocates, and lay rescuers.
During the 12-month period, there were:
- 10,058 contributions, i.e., sum of actions taken by hosts, moderators, and members including posts, cheers, comments, chat messages, direct (private) messages, RSVPs
- 923 active members (total members who visited)
- 468 unique members providing contributions.
Members are not only engaging publicly on the site, but also privately. 189 members (21%) sent 1,448 direct messages, exceeding the Mighty Networks benchmark of 15%. CASA also hosted 12 webinars and three meetups for survivors and co-survivors with guided discussions led by experts. CASA also hosted in-person meetings at the 2023 Cardiac Arrest Survival Summit.
In addition, we developed a formal research protocol and are working with researchers seeking to improve understanding of survivorship and develop new resources.
In conclusion, the Cardiac Arrest Survivor Alliance community has grown substantially in the past year and there is a high level of engagement. Future plans include:
- Providing additional evidence-based content
- Outreach to hospitals/discharge professionals, including underserved rural areas
- Collaboration with researchers interested in survivorship
- Collaboration with program partners to help grow and strengthen CASA
- Webinars and community meetups.
Authors: Mary M Newman, Sudden Cardiac Arrest FDN, Wexford, PA; Alexander M Presciutti, Massachusetts General Hosp/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Joseph Farrell, Sudden Cardiac Arrest FDN, Wexford, PA; Joshua Lupton, Oregon Health and Science Univ, Portland, OR; Stephen Sanko, Keck Sch of Med, Univ of Southern California and LA Fire Dept, Los Angeles, CA; Sarah M Perman, Yale Sch of Med, New Haven, CT.
Funding for CASA is provided by American Heart Association, Boston Scientific, and Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation.