In Australia, survival rates for sudden cardiac arrest are 9%. In Seattle they are 62%, one of the best in the world. So how did this city in the US achieve such impressive results?
The story begins back in the early 1970s when Dr Leonard Cobb, a cardiologist working in the Pacific Northwest realised that many lives could be saved by access to early defibrillation and good quality basic life support. He also believed non-medical personnel could be trained to provide early medical intervention in cardiac emergencies before specialists arrive.
After successfully training fire fighters, further funding was made available in the mid 1970s to resource programs for the general public. This pioneering legacy has made Seattle a world leader in the treatment of sudden cardiac arrest which continues to this day.
Those early concepts of public engagement, access to early defibrillation together with robust data collection and ongoing learning make Seattle’s King County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) program the benchmark that other nations aspire to.
Today, Seattle puts its success down to several factors:
- 75% of the Seattle community has received training in CPR (compared to an average of 26% in Australia). In addition to courses for adults, almost all children receive training in responding to cardiac emergencies in school.
- They have one of the highest concentrations of publicly accessible AEDs (13 per km2 in 2019)
- The location of AEDs is recorded on a centralised system so members of the community can find their nearest AED on their smartphone or be directed to it when they call the emergency services.
Every year in Australia, more than 26,000 people have a cardiac arrest out of hospital, and only about 10% of these people survive. If Australia followed Seattle’s model, it is estimated that around 12,000 lives per year could be saved.
Supporting the StreetBeat initiative is one way we can improve these statistics and outcomes for members of our communities.
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https://www.cprfriendly.org/blog/seattle-sca-world-record-holder
Photograph by Daniel Schwen
