UVAC to Hit Goal of Training 1,000 Members of UMaine Community in CPR
University Volunteer Ambulance Corps (UVAC), the student-run emergency medical service at the University of Maine, is approaching another significant milestone this semester: Training 1,000 members of the UMaine community in hands-only or bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
The training is led by Jonathan Grant and Alana Silverman, UVAC’s wellness and education coordinators. All 70 members of UVAC are trained in CPR.
UVAC expects to hit the 1,000 mark at one of two campus events this spring: Relay for Life, April 17; and Maine Day, April 29.
Bystander CPR is described as a two-step process by the American Heart Association. If a person has collapsed, is unresponsive and not breathing normally, call 911 and begin pushing hard and fast at the center of the victim’s chest to the beat of the Bee Gees disco song “Stayin’ Alive.”
According to the American Heart Association, most people who go into sudden cardiac arrest at home, work or in a public location die because they don’t receive immediate CPR on the scene. Effective bystander CPR can more than double a victim’s chances of survival, but only 32 percent of cardiac arrest victims get CPR from a bystander.
In Maine, there are an estimated 1,000 cases of sudden cardiac arrest every year, and only one in 10 victims survives, according to Maine EMS data, says Grant.
Hands-only CPR has proven to be as effective as CPR with breaths in treating adult cardiac arrest victims, according to the American Heart Association.
Earlier this spring, UVAC was named a HEARTSafe CAMPUS at the National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation’s (NCEMSF) 21st annual conference in Baltimore, Maryland. NCEMSF encourages and promotes community awareness of the potential for saving the lives of sudden cardiac arrest victims through the use of CPR and increased public access to defibrillation.
HEARTSafe Campuses are role models to other campuses nationwide to improve overall cardiac arrest care. UVAC was recognized with EMS organizations from seven other institutions including Georgetown University, Fordham University, Tufts University and Virginia Tech.