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Saturday, November 20, 2010

Here's what hits the schools...

Abstract 12205: Saving Lives in Schools — School-based CPR-AED Programs: Awareness, Education, Planning and Partnerships

Stuart Berger; Robert Campbell; Jon Drezner; John Wilson; Allison Ellison; Maryanne Kessel; Debra Klich; Rebecca Neumann-Schwabe

Med College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI; Emory Univ Med Sch, Atlanta, GA; Univ of Washington, Seattle, WA; Univ of Wisconsin, Madison, WI; Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA; Children's Hosp of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI; Children's Hopsital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI; Children's Hosp of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI

Background: Sudden cardiac death (SCD) in the young is devastating. 20% of the U.S. adult and pediatric population spends time in schools each week, making schools a strategic location for secondary prevention through CPR-AED programs.

Purpose: We sought to describe the impact of school based CPR-AED programs.

Methods: Project ADAM (PA) (Milwaukee, WI) and Project SAVE (Atlanta, GA) are community programs designed to prevent SCD in schools. The goals are directed toward schools, including (1) education/awareness of signs, symptoms, treatment of SCA, (2) implementation of CPR-AED programs in schools (3) advocacy for students to learn CPR/AED use prior to graduation. SCA events are monitored at existing participating schools. A comprehensive program includes a coordinator, EMS, first responder team development/training, purchase/maintenance of AED(s) and an emergency response plan.

Results: WI: 850 schools have CPR-AED programs (35% of all WI schools). All schools in the Milwaukee Public School system have a program and 70% of high schools have programs. Across WI, in schools where an AED was deployed at the time of a SCA, there was a 36% rate of survival to hospital discharge. Since PA started, 11 "saves" are a result of school programs: 6 adults, 5 children/adolescents. GA: Project SAVE has provided CPR-AED program information to all 180 school districts in GA. 65% of all schools have AEDs and a HeartSafe program has been recognized in 728 schools (32% of schools). From Oct 2004 — May 2010:49 (26 students; 23 adults) SCA events have been reported in GA schools. Due to improved school AED and emergency response plans, 22 of the incidents have resulted in survival to hospital discharge (45% total survival rate, 10 students; 12 adults). Many student SCAs did not occur with high school sports (2 elementary, 6 middle, and 18 high school). Diagnoses in the child/adolescent survivor group include LQTS, CA from the opposite sinus of Valsalva, HCM, Kawasaki disease, aortic stenosis, WPW, commotio cordis and lightning strike.

Conclusions: Community programs designed to assist schools implement school CPR-AED programs are successful and lead to a high survival rate for SCA occurring in schools.

Author Disclosures: S. Berger: None. R. Campbell: None. J. Drezner: None. J. Wilson: None. A. Ellison: None. M. Kessel: None. D. Klich: None. R. Neumann-Schwabe: None.