Spokane Fire Department, WA
Each year, approximately 350,000 persons in the United States experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) or sudden death; approximately 90% of persons who experience an OHCA die. Despite decades of research, median reported rates of survival to hospital discharge are poor (10.4%) and have remained virtually unchanged for the past 30 years. The Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) was developed to help communities determine standard outcome measures for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) locally allowing for quality improvement efforts and emergency response for OHCA events.
Since its inception, the program has expanded to include 26 state-based registries and the District of Columbia, with community sites in 16 additional states. CARES data are used to help communities benchmark and improve their performance for OHCA care. The Texas-CARES Program uses the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) to measure and report important cardiac arrest epidemiology, treatment parameters, and outcomes. The combination of which to produce measurable improvements in the survival of cardiac arrest patients.
The highlighted video features firsthand accounts from survivors, families, and speakers as they share their personal experiences of the CARES program. The intent is to help engage and educate emergency care professionals, key decision-makers, and the larger resuscitation community about the program’s influence. For more information please visit mycares.net. We are eternally grateful to the survivors, families, and speakers who shared their personal experiences as part of this effort. Without these stories, this video would not have come to fruition.
We would also like to thank the following organizations for their photo contributions to this video: