Take Heart ProgramTake Heart Austin is pleased to host the 2010 Regional Resuscitation Conference planned for October 29, 2010.  The conference will bring national experts in the field of cardiac arrest resuscitation together to present current evidence and best practices for Post Resuscitation Care.  Registration is limited to 275 participants. 

October 29, 2010
7:45 am – 4:45 pm

AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center
The University of Texas
Austin, TX
www.meetattexas.com

Registration Fees:
Physicians – $110.00
 Non-Physicians – $50.00

To register, download the Program and Registration form here: 
2010 Resuscitation Conference Program

After submitting a completed Registration form, you may pay using a Credit Card by following this link: http://www.austincommunityfoundation.org/?nd=ticket_list&fundraiser_id=86

All others pay by mailing or delivering a check or money order to:
Take Heart Austin
517 South Pleasant Valley Road
Austin, TX 78741

Registration is not complete until both the completed registration form and payment are received

For payment or other Conference questions, please call or email:
Louis Gonzales, 512-978-0011, louis.gonzales2@ci.austin.tx.us
or
Heather Kearns, 512-978-0000, heather.kearns@ci.austin.tx.us

 This program is made possible by our Regional Resuscitation Conference Sponsors:
Platinum Level Sponsor – St. David’s HealthCare
Silver Level Sponsor – ZOLL Medical Corporation
Bronze Level Sponsors – Heart Hospital of Austin, Philips Healthcare, Seton Family of Hospitals
Exhibitor Level Sponsors – Cardiac Science Corporation, Physio-Control, Inc

On Saturday, July 31, 2010, the Heart Hospital of Austin sponsored another successful day of screening young athletes for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.  This heart condition affects 1 in 500 student athletes each year.  This free event is sponsored by the Heart Hospital of Austin in coordination with Austin Heart and the Championship Hearts Foundation.  The screening included a review by a cardiologist and took only a few minutes.  An estimated 500 persons attended the event.

 Take Heart Austin joined this event by providing free 10 minute compression only CPR training to over 90 persons during this morning event.  CPR training used Take Heart Austin’s “Take 10″ compression only program to increase the number of people in the community capable and willing to perform chest compressions in the event they came upon an unresponsive adult who needs CPR.

The Del Valle Independent School District recently expanded its efforts to provide staff, students and community members with life saving CPR skills.  Thanks to a HeartRescue grant from the Medtronic Foundation and a partnership with the Take Heart Austin sudden cardiac arrest survival initiative, Del Valle has launched several programs aimed at teaching CPR skills throughout the school district and community.  Under the direction of Molly Garcia, RN, BSN and Mary Beth Denton, LVN (Del Valle Health Services), CPR training is occuring not only in the classroom but also at school district events.

At a recent High School football game, Mary Beth Denton and Kathleen Harris (AHA TC Faculty) set up a booth and provided Hands Only CPR instruction to students, families and others attending the game (Photo, Right, Mary Beth and Kathleen).  Those who demonstrated an understanding of the chest compression only CPR techniques were then eligible to enter a drawing for a free American Heart Association Family & Friends CPR Anytime kit.  Eric Constancio, a Del Valle Middle School student was the lucky winner (Photo below, Eric and his family).  The interest in CPR training is not new to Eric’s family.  His mother, a Del Valle ISD employee, completed an AHA Heartsaver AED training course through the school district. 

Thanks to Del Valle ISD and families like Eric’s, the Del Valle Community is becoming better prepared to help save the lives of sudden cardiac arrest victims.  Take Heart Austin appauds the work of Del Valle ISD and hopes to expand this program to other schools in the Austin area.

COMING SOON!!!  Take Heart Austin will soon announce a new effort designed to provide simple and effective CPR training to those who live in, work in, or visit the City of Austin and Travis County.  It only takes about 10 minutes to learn the simple steps that can save the life of a person who suddenly collapses from cardiac arrest.  Do you have 10 minutes to learn how to save a life?  You will be able to participate in, host or sponsor a training session in your neighborhood or workplace.  Stay tuned for more information on this exciting new program. 

Take Heart Austin was recently notified its grant proposal to the Laerdal Foundation has been accepted.  The Grant will be used to develop methods and systems to track the effectiveness of the Take Heart Austin Sudden Cardiac Arrest initiative.  These efforts will focus on improving data collection, analysis and reporting methods.  The Laerdal Foundation’s generous support will provide Take Heart Austin with the staff support to improve its current processes and methods for data collection and reporting. More importantly, the staff support will allow Take Heart Austin to evaluate the impact of the iniative’s resuscitation strategies including the impedance threshold device, CPR training, therapeutic hypothermia, and Resuscitation Center of Excellence designation.  Stay tuned for more information on this topic.

Travis County Fire Rescue – Emergency Service District 11, Austin / Travis County Medical Director Dr. Ed Racht M.D., officials from the City of Creedmoor and representatives from Texas Disposal Systems held a press conference on Tuesday March 20, 2007 at the Creedmoor Texas Disposal Facility).  The purpose of the press conference was to announce a new CPR Training initiative in Southeast Travis County.  Evidence has shown that early CPR and defibrillation can result in higher survival rates of witnessed cardiac arrest. The challenge is getting CPR training to the people who are most likely to witness a cardiac arrest – Friends and Family.

Texas Disposal Systems is meeting that challenge through a collaborative effort with Travis County Fire Rescue, the City of Creedmoor and the Office of the Austin / Travis County Medical Director to place 250 self directed personal CPR training kits in every home within the City of Creedmoor and those surrounding Creedmoor.

Texas Disposal Systems has donated the funds to purchase this cutting edge training tool and Travis County Fire Rescue will be going door to door to deliver these CPR training kits and encourage every man, woman and child to learn CPR.

Representatives of Texas Disposal Systems and the City of Creedmoor along with Dr. Ed Racht, M.D. and personnel from Travis County Fire Rescue – ESD 11 were on hand to demonstrate this new CPR training kit and answer any questions.

We are proud to announce the Del Valle ISD has received a substantial grant to provide CPR and AED training within the School District.  Located in the southeast Austin/Travis County area, the Del Valle ISD submitted an outstanding proposal.  The Medtronic Foundation graciously awarded the training grant to Del Valle ISD after reviewing their program proposal named “Save-A-Life”.

Led by the School District Nursing staff, the “Save-a-Life program will begin by increasing the number of school staff trained as CPR instructors.  The District plans to utilize non-healthcare provider staff as instructors as a means of increasing the instructional capabilities of the District.  In addition, the District will focus on student training at multiple grade levels. 

Consistent with the Take Heart Austin initiative, the District will also provide a mechanism for training student parents and family members through various school events.  In collaboration  with Take Heart Austin, the Del Valle ISD plans to dramatically increase the number of persons trained in traditional CPR methods as well as the number of persons trained in Hands Only CPR.  Look for more updates on this noteworthy program in future posts.