Despite improvement in CPR training, the survival rate for women experiencing cardiac arrest outside of a hospital has not improved significantly, especially for Hispanic women. The American Heart Association is determined to change that fact through a new initiative launching across the country. As a champion for health equity, the American Heart Association, the leading global voluntary health organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke for all, will launch the “Héroes Salvando Corazones/Heroes Saving Hearts” campaign. The campaign, which started in August, will inspire the Hispanic-Latino community to learn the two steps to Hands-Only CPR to help save lives. Hands-Only CPR is CPR without breaths, in two easy steps: 1) Call 911 and 2) push hard and fast in the center of the chest to a beat of 100-120 beats per minute. Without quick bystander CPR, cardiac arrest is typical fatal. Cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at any time whether they are at home, at work, or in public.
In the United States, Hispanics-Latinos and African Americans are at a higher risk for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with a poor prognosis due to longstanding structural racism and social policies that have limited access to quality education and health care. CPR is also less common in Black and Hispanic-Latino neighborhoods. A study, published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, found the greater the percentage of Hispanic-Latino residents in a neighborhood, the lower the chances of receiving bystander CPR and the lower the chances of survival. In addition to that, calling 911 is the first step to performing CPR but due to structural racism, the presumed or real undocumented status of Hispanics-Latinos often places them in a marginalized position, therefore they are reluctant to call 911 due to fear of deportation and/or interaction with first responders and officials. Helping Hispanic-Latino communities feel comfortable calling 911 will also be a key component of the campaign.