AHA Launches Hands-Only CPR Campaign

The Ad Council and the American Heart Association have launched a national multimedia campaign to encourage bystanders to use Hands-Only CPR when an adult collapses and is unresponsive.

The AHA has not changed its recommendation for healthcare providers, stating that more research is required. However, an approach utilizing continuous chest compressions has been adopted and endorsed by the Arizona Department of Health Services, long spotlighting the topic for the EMS community. A three-year study published in 2008, based on data from 62 Arizona EMS agencies, showed a three-fold increase in survival rates.

The new AHA campaign includes television, radio, print, outdoor and online Public Service Ads that direct audiences to visit www.HandsOnlyCPR.org, where they can gain resources including an instructional video. The ads were distributed to about 33,000 media outlets to air in donated advertising time and space.

The campaign website also offers a free mobile phone application that teaches the technique, and an online tool called "Hands Symphony," where visitors can use their "hands" to create original music. The campaign will also include an online social media program, the AHA reports.

The AHA describes Hands-Only CPR to the public as a two-step technique that involves calling 9-1-1 and pushing hard and fast in the center of the chest until professional help arrives. The campaign particularly hopes to reach women 55 and older who are most likely to be the spouses of potential victims, the AHA reports.

"For years the survival rate from sudden cardiac arrest has been abysmal," said Clyde Yancy, M.D., American Heart Association president. "Bystanders hold the key to increasing survival. We hope this campaign will break through the barriers people have when they see someone in cardiac arrest -- so that anyone who hears this message can help save a life."