Honors students lead initiative for state-wide hands-only CPR campus challenge
Two honors students are challenging the Wayne State community to get involved in a state-wide campus challenge in order to raise awareness for heart disease.
Working along with the American Heart Association of Southeast Michigan, seniors Cedric Mutebi and Kavya Davuluri are putting together the "University Hands-Only CPR Challenge," which will take place the week of September 15-21, 2018 at campuses all across the state. The goal is to try and get as many students, staff, faculty and community members trained in the hands-only CPR method.
Joining WSU in this state-wide challenge will be the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Eastern Michigan University, University of Detroit Mercy and Oakland University.
"There are over 350,000 cardiac arrests each year, and over 90 percent are fatal. And because of this, it is really important for people to take action through CPR as soon as it happens because every minute that passes by, that person has a decreased likelihood of 10 percent of surviving," Mutebi explained. "If you kind of look specifically in Detroit, for every 10 cardiac arrests, only 30 percent of those have a response rate. We really want to increase the response rate when somebody has a cardiac arrest so that they have the best chances for survival."
The difference between traditional CPR and hands-only CPR is the traditional CPR includes the breaths between compressions, while the hands-only method only does the chest compressions.
There are two parts to the challenge: a pre-challenge period from August 20 - September 14 and then the challenge week from September 15 - 21. During the pre-challenge period there will be five sessions, led by the American Heart Association, where people can get trained as hands-only CPR instructors for the challenge week. The training dates and locations include:
There is no need to RSVP for the training sessions as they are on a walk-in basis. The sessions will last approximately 30 minutes.
According to Mutebi, each person who participates in the pre-challenge training sessions and fills out the online training survey will earn Wayne State half-a-point towards the challenge.
During the challenge week, Wayne State will earn a point for each individual who completes the hands-only CPR training and completes the online survey. The winner will be determined by which university has the most points at the end of the week.
Students will also have the chance to enter into raffles for prizes that include gift cards and a parking pass.
Mutebi would like to see 10,000 people trained in hands-only CPR by the end of the week.
"It is something that does really touch a lot peoples' lives, like heart disease and cardiac arrest and most recently learning about the G-League player who passed away through heart issues during the game," he said. "It is something that I think is a public health need, to have that skill, and I think this challenge will not only teach people that skill, but will give them confidence whenever they encounter it."
To learn more about the Hands-Only CPR Challenge, please email HOCPRchallenge@wayne.edu or visit the challenge's social media sites at @universityHOCPR.