Projects: Airport Kiosks Help Travelers Learn CPR Skills To BeeGees Tune
February 26, 2016 by Dave Haynes
This is one of the more unusual, and clever stabs at a public information kiosk I’ve seen come on the market – a CPR skill-testing device that gets airport travellers pushing on a torso to the beat of Stayin’ Alive.
The American Heart Association‘s Hands-Only CPR campaign features interactive training kiosks at six major US airports.
Says a news release:
Each Hands-Only CPR training kiosk features a touch screen with a video program that gives a brief “how-to,” followed by a practice session and a 30-second CPR test. With the help of a practice mannequin, or a rubber torso, the kiosk provides feedback about the depth and rate of compressions and proper hand placement – factors that influence the effectiveness of CPR.
The kiosks will be available at Chicago O’Hare International (ORD), Indianapolis International (IND), Las Vegas’ McCarran International (LAS), Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL) and Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall (BWI) airports.
Two additional kiosks will be available at The Global Center for Health Innovation in Cleveland, Ohio and Anthem’s office in Washington, D.C.
Every year, more than 359,000 cardiac arrests occur outside the hospital and more than 20 percent occur in public places like airports, casinos and sporting facilities. “Cardiac arrest remains a leading cause of death in the United States, and survival depends on immediately receiving CPR from someone nearby,” said Clifton Callaway, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the AHA’s Emergency Cardiovascular Care committee and professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. “Although in-person training is still the best way to learn high-quality CPR, the kiosk will provide additional training that could make a difference and save the life of someone you love.”
The launch of these seven kiosks comes on the heels of the successful and life-saving pilot kiosk installed in 2013 at the Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport (DFW) by AHA and American Airlines Occupation Health Services. This kiosk, which is located in Terminal C, Gate 7, has trained more than 25,000 travelers.
The program is being bankrolled by health insurer Anthem, Inc.
The BeeGees disco tie-in relates to the beat of their old dance hit. “Five years ago, AHA simplified the steps of CPR to encourage more people to take action: if a bystander sees a teen or adult collapse, he or she should first call 9-1-1, then push hard and fast in the center of the chest to the beat of “Stayin’ Alive,” which has the perfect cadence for proper CPR. Hands-Only CPR removes the step of rescue breaths; bystanders should simply keep pushing until emergency help arrives.
https://youtu.be/HjKeTo3c2wM
Great idea and a more ‘hands-on’ approach to a ‘Stayin’ Alive’ themed video and app campaign run in the UK by the British Heart Foundation featuring Vinnie Jones, whom a few of you may know from the 2000 film ‘Snatch’ featuring Brad Pitt and even fewer of you will know as a hardman football (soccer) player in England.
BHF article and video here for those interested: https://www.bhf.org.uk/heart-health/nation-of-lifesavers/hands-only-cpr/behind-the-scenes-with-vinnie
Disclosure: My eldest daughter is a cardiac nurse at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, UK so ‘heart health’ is a regular topic a conversation when we get together as a family.