When WDIV Local 4 Detroit decided to teach viewers the importance of CPR in an all-day session in September, the station turned to the man who wrote the book on current life-saving technology.
Brian O’Neill, M.D., FACEP, FAHA, Mnuswamy Dayanandan Endowed Chair, and Edward S. Thomas Endowed Professor of Emergency Medicine, Wayne State University School of Medicine gave millions of viewers the correct CPR during the station’s broadcast. I taught you how. Staying Alive CPR Day on September 13th.
A 1986 medical school graduate, Dr. O’Neill is a nationally recognized expert in the fields of cardiac and cerebral ischemia and cardiac resuscitation. He helped revise his CPR recommendations for the American Heart Association to the current best practices for manual chest compressions.
In a segment broadcast live on Channel 4Dr. O’Neill showed the correct way to perform CPR to help someone suffering a cardiac event.
“Historically, Detroit has one of the lowest cardiac arrest survival rates in the nation (0.2% in 2002). is one of them,” said Dr. O’Neil. “But we have come a long way since then. Today, the national average for bystander CPR is over 40%. Post-cardiac arrest discharge rates are as high as 16% in some hospitals. , the majority of whom have a favorable neurological outcome.”
For the president of the American Heart Association, teaching the life-saving benefits of CPR is not a one-day event. Dr. O’Neill and his colleagues conduct training sessions throughout the year with the support of a grant from the Michigan State Health Endowment Fund totaling $350,000. An ongoing project called “It Takes a City” will include a session teaching him how to CPR correctly, plus a community intervention for high blood pressure.
At the June event, Dr. O’Neill and colleagues trained approximately 50 people in a session held in a community outreach space inside the Carhartt store near the WSU campus. Many of the people who attend the sessions work in healthcare.
The event also saw the unveiling of a new stock of physician-ready vehicles to be used in WSU/DMC Emergency Medical Services Fellowships directed by Robert Dunne, M.D., Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, FAEMS and FACEP. This fellowship will train an EMS officer to pass her EMS board exam and assume a leadership role in emergency medical services. AHA grants provided CPR compression devices, airways, rescue pumps, and a “CPR Anywhere” training kit for door-to-door sessions in the city.
“To continue to improve[cardiac discharge rates]we need to be able to bring expertise and advanced care to critically ill patients in Detroit,” said Dr. O’Neill. “Currently, Detroit operates with about 80% basic life support (ambulance) units, without medicines and more advanced technology. I’m going to try this doctor’s car to see if I can keep doing it.”
