The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation is dedicated to bringing you the latest news and developments in sudden cardiac arrest prevention and treatment.
AED Program Saves Three Lives in Six Months
35 Blain's Farm and Fleet Stores Equipped with AEDs and More Than 200 Staff Trained To Respond to Cardiac Emergencies JANESVILLE, Wis. -- In the last six months, the trained teams of staff responders at Blain's Farm and Fleet retail stores located throughout Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin have saved three lives using an automated external… Read More
A Christmas Miracle
PITTSBURGH, PA--It was Christmas night when volunteer Firefighter/EMT Nick Gerstel sat down for dinner with his family in Penn Hills, a suburb of Pittsburgh. It had been a quiet day for the volunteer department located just a short mile or so down the road from the Gerstel residence. In a matter of moments, that all changed. Christmas dinner was… Read More
American Heart Association and Cities of Service Announce Hands-Only™ CPR Training Kit Grant Winners
DALLAS – Five cities across the country have been chosen to receive 1,000 Hands-Only CPR training kits each to help turn more of their residents into lifesavers. Austin, Texas; Buffalo, N.Y.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Savannah, Ga.; and Virginia Beach, Va., were the grant winners announced today by the American Heart Association and Cities of Service, a bi… Read More
Real-World ICD Patient Survival Matches Trial Expectations
Patients who received an implantable heart defibrillator in everyday practice had survival benefits on par with those who received the same devices in carefully controlled clinical trials, according to a new study that highlights the value of defibrillators in typical medical settings. Led by the Duke Clinical Research Institute and published… Read More
New Hope for Stopping Sudden Cardiac Deaths
Sudden cardiac death in young athletes has been a problem since the year 490 B.C., when a young Greek soldier ran from Marathon to Athens and fell suddenly to his death (Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). The sudden death of a young athlete is tragic, but for the first time researchers have identified the molecular basis for the condition that is the… Read More
PA Department of Health Launches New CPR Training Initiative
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A new campaign, "Lend a Hand, Save a Life," will teach the general public about sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and train 250,000 people in Pennsylvania in hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The American Heart Association (AHA) has been recommending hands-only CPR for adults since 2008. Hands-only CPR has… Read More
Take-Home CPR Instruction Kit Gives Parents Good CPR Skills, Saves Kids' Lives, Packard Children's Study Finds
PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Many children with chronic disease or serious health conditions are at risk of cardiac arrest. Teaching their parents to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation can save kids' lives and prevent brain damage caused by delayed resuscitation. But ensuring that these parents receive timely, effective CPR training before they leave… Read More
AEDs in Metra Trains Could Save Lives
CHICAGO--All Metra trains will be equipped with automatic external defibrillators by the end of January, officials announced on Thursday. The easy-to-use, automated device helped a Naperville woman save two lives at the fitness center were she works. The latest involved a man who collapsed face first on a treadmill after going into cardiac arrest… Read More
Mental Health Scars Common After Cardiac Arrest
A quarter of cardiac arrest survivors suffer long-term psychological problems such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, a new review of research estimates. This additional stress on recovering patients is under-diagnosed, researchers say, and doctors have few standard methods for identifying who is at risk. "Anxiety,… Read More