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.

The Austin/Travis County Office of the Medical Director has proposed specific criteria and processes for hospitals wishing to be designated as a receiving center for Post Cardiac Arrest patients with return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC).  This new designation is based on growing evidence supporting the need for Resuscitation Centers in order to improve overall outcomes for these patients.  In the Austin/Travis County area, we believe the proportion of post cardiac arrest patients who are discharged neurologically intact from the hospital can be dramatically affected when these specific capabilities and processes are in place. 

The concept of a Resuscitation Center of Excellence designation parallels that of the Trauma System development which occurred over the past several years.  The concept uses a team approach involving multiple key players, both in-hospital and out-of-hospital.  We recognize the value of coordination between the EMS System, the ED staff, Interventional Cardiology, the CCU/ICU staff, Electrophysiology, and Hospital Administration.  In terms of cardiac arrest, the Resuscitation Center of Excellence concept emphasizes early use of proven interventions for resuscitation and post-resuscitation care. 

 This simple and straightforward process focuses on the efficacy of hospital processes as well as the ability to provide data demonstrating effective, ongoing performance.

 The key components of the process are:

1. commitment to seeking this designation
2. demonstrated process and capabilities for 24/7 therapeutic hypothermia
3. demonstrated process and capabilities for 24/7 selection of patients with a suspected acute myocardial infarction prior to cardiac arrest and provision of percutaneous coronary intervention  to these patients
4. demonstrated process and capabilities for continued post resuscitation care and risk reduction
5. commitment to coordinate with the EMS System to exchange data for the purposes of quality improvement

 Beginning in September 2008 (anticipated start date), post cardiac arrest patients with return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) transported by the Austin/Travis County EMS System will only be transported to hospitals designated as a Resuscitation Center of Excellence.

On February 13, 2008, Take Heart Austin hosted a one-day Clinical Symposium on the topic of Post ROSC Therapeutic Hypothermia.   Representatives from every hospital in Austin as well as representatives from each Williamson County hospital and Austin/Travis County EMS attended this interactive educational event.  The objective of the symposium was to provide current clinical information on therapeutic hypothermia in preparation for implemention of post ROSC cooling by EMS providers.  Another key objective of the symposium was the establishment of a process for hospital designations as Resuscitation Centers of Excellence within the City of Austin / Travis County EMS System.  

The Symposium was a great success.  Today, several currently designated EMS receiving hospitals in Austin and in Williamson County are preparing to seek designation as a Resuscitation Center of Excellence which includes the commitment to continue therapeutic hypothermia initiated by the EMS System.  For more information on our Resuscitation Centers of Excellence, please see the related article.  Additional information about the Symposium may also be found at the Office fo the Medical Director website, http://atcomd.org/PostResusHypo.htm.   

 cooling-workshop-agenda

Take Heart Austin would like to acknowledge the generous Symposium sponsorship of: Take Heart America, Alsius Corporation, Innercool Therapies, Medivance Inc., St. David’s Heart and Vascular Centers and Seton Heart Specialty Care & Transplant Center.

Coming Soon - More information about the recently announced Medtronic Foundation CPR Training Grant received by the Del Valle ISD