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The sad, unfortunate truth is that cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at any time, and without quick, proper bystander CPR, the attack is typically fatal. In fact, outside of hospitals, about 70% of cardiac arrests occur at home to loved ones who, without proper care, regretfully can’t always be saved.

Conscious of health equity, the survival rate in women experiencing cardiac arrest has yet to improve, especially for Hispanic and African American women. This can be attributed to poor prognosis due to longstanding structural racism and insufficient social policies in the United States. Having limited access to quality education and health care surrounding CPR and cardiac arrest, improving CPR training for these women is needed now more than ever hence why the world’s leading voluntary health organization, the American Heart Association, continues to implement efforts to change and save lives through a new campaign.

Héroes Salvando Corazones Campaign

The American Heart Association’s ‘Héroes Salvando Corazones’ or ‘Heroes Saving Hearts’ campaign has been pushed to inspire the Hispanic-Latino community to learn Hands-Only CPR or CPR without breaths. Fortunately, according to the American Heart Association Journal Circulation, Hispanics-Latinos are the most interested and likely to perform Hands-Only CPR. The campaign makes the process simple. It focuses on two easy steps: 1) Call 911 and 2) push hard and fast in the center of the chest to a beat of 100-120 beats per minute.

Fighting for Health Equity and Against Systemic Racism

Although calling 911 is the first step, due to structural racism, Hispanic Latinos are often reluctant to dial. The stereotyped or real undocumented status of Hispanics-Latinos often places them in a marginalized position, causing hesitation due to fear of uncomfortable interactions. When it comes to stepping too in the past, hesitancy to perform CPR has often been due to a perceived lack of training, knowledge, and experience. To help with these hesitations, the campaign will help educate about the Good Samaritan Laws, which a quarter of people are unaware of, and teach how to properly perform Hands-Only CPR so that members of the community can be confident in their ability to save a life.

“Unless systemic changes are enacted, Hispanic-Latinos and African Americans and other historically excluded groups will remain more likely to die of sudden cardiac arrest than other groups, and that is especially true for women of color,” said Marina Del Rios, Clinical Associate professor at the University of Iowa, Emergency Medicine Physician, and American Heart Association volunteer expert. “The “Heroes Saving Hearts” campaign will address those systemic barriers and will provide these communities with the tools and resources they need to learn and administer Hands-Only CPR.”

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke – America’s No. 1 and No. 5 killers. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for more robust public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke.

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