His mission in his second life is to ensure that Sudden Cardiac Arrest becomes a household word throughout the USA and beyond.
Joseph P. Farrell, Doctor of Physical Therapy, has been elected Chair of the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation Board of Directors. He has served on the Board since 2018.
Dr. Farrell is a survivor of Sudden Cardiac Arrest. He was the co-owner/founder of a physical therapy outpatient private practice in Castro Valley, California. After 40 years of clinical practice, he retired from patient care. He also taught extensively at the state and national level on topics relating to Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapy (OMPT) and served as the Kaiser Northern California Graduate PT Education OMPT Fellowship program as a senior clinical fellowship faculty member for over 30 years. He now serves as Faculty Emeritus.
As a survivor of Sudden Cardiac Arrest and rescuer of two SCA survivors, he was chosen as a “50 for 50 Golden Anniversary Survivor Honoree” by the Citizen CPR Foundation at the Emergency Cardiovascular Care Update, San Diego, California in 2010. From 2014-2018 he served as the Co-Chair of the CPR/AED Consortium of the American Heart Association (AHA) Greater Bay Area 2020 Task Force. In 2015, the Greater Bay Area AHA honored him as the Community Health Volunteer of the Year.
In addition to serving on the SCAF Board, he also served on the Board of Directors of the PulsePoint Foundation and the Advisory Boards of the Via Heart Project and San Ramon California HeartSafe Committee (HSC).
Joe and his wife Edie, along with the HSC, trained over 30,000 citizens in Hands-Only CPR and AED use. The HSC taught a “Hands-Only CPR/AED” program to 7th graders (3,000 children/year) in the San Ramon Valley California school district and recently transitioned the program to the high school level due to legislative changes in California. His goal in his second life is to ensure that Sudden Cardiac Arrest becomes a household word throughout the USA and the world.
“I am pleased to pass the torch to Joe Farrell,” said Henry Jampel, MD, MHS, Immediate Past Board Chair. “Since he is an active and passionate champion for our cause, I am confident the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation will flourish under his leadership.”