ASHI and MEDIC First Aid Blog

A big round of applause to Greater Atlanta-area ASHI instructor Liz Carter of Education for Life training center. This community-focused instructor teamed up with Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) survivor Patrick Spink of Dacula, Georgia (shown in the photo between Liz and one of his rescuers) to host a well-attended community CPR training using the Project HOPE program.

Spink collapsed last July and was saved at Rabbit Hill Park by three bystanders, his “angels” as he calls them, who performed CPR until the paramedics arrived. A nurse, a cardiac cath lab worker, and a gentleman who comes from a family of trained CPR providers were truly at the right place at the right time.

This recovered patient’s commitment to teaching CPR skills to others has resulted in the “Dacula Heart Day” event he hosted at the Dacula United Methodist Church on January 11, 2014. This CPR skills class/blood drive/and fundraising breakfast event will help to purchase two AEDs for the small Gwinnett County community.

You can read the rescue story and see a FOX 5 news video here.

Instructor Carter calls the Heart Day event “an unbelievably rewarding day and an awesome experience”
 when 143 people came to learn CPR skills at no cost for the class. Additionally, 27 people donated blood and 58 class participants took advantage of a blood pressure-and-EKG check-in opportunity.

Again, in Liz’s own words:

“The day was exhausting, but so rewarding! People were amazed at how simple the steps for performing CPR have become, and the ones who had never seen an AED before were in shock at its ease of use. The really great thing is that the plan is for this to become an annual event….I think the HOPE Program is awesome! I can see it being used in so many venues and at so many different types of events.”

HOPE is the new Hands On Practical Experience course. It’s a 45-minute course in chest compression-only CPR. 

HOPE was originally created by Becky DeVoss, RN, M.S.H.A. She is the clinical education coordinator at Fairfield Medical Center in Lancaster, Ohio, and also the TC Director of Fairfield’s ASHI Training Center.

The course is designed for anyone who desires potentially life-saving hands-on practical experience in chest compression-only CPR. HOPE training materials are provided to emergency care instructors free of charge as a public service and are not intended for sale or resale.

ASHI and MEDIC First Aid instructors interested in offering a free HOPE class at their training center can download the HOPE Participant Course Outline, the HOPE Participant Course Presentation, the HOPE Compression-only CPR Skill Sheet (one per participant, print or digital), and the Rate Your Program Class Evaluation through their Otis portal. Log into Otis, then go to Dashboard>Administration>Documents>Instructor Guides and you’ll find them as a “digital resource kit.”