CalvertHealth First-in-Maryland to offer Infant CPR Anytime® Training
Ten seconds. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), if CPR begins within 10 seconds of witnessing someone, of any age, becoming unresponsive due to a cardiac event, they have the best chance of reviving them. Every second that the heart is not pumping oxygen-rich blood, brain cells begin to die.
For parents and caregivers of infants and young children, having the knowledge to recognize and act in an emergency is crucial. The sooner emergency care is provided, on site, the better the outcome will be for a child.
Recognizing that educating parents on infant emergency response is crucial, the team at CalvertHealth partnered with the American Heart Association to initiate the Infant CPR Anytime® Training program to educate parents on lifesaving techniques before they leave the hospital with their baby.
CalvertHealth Medical Center and the Center for Family Birth Care is the first hospital to formally initiate the program in Maryland. The program combines in-hospital, in-room training by video, followed by mom doing a return demonstration with a nurse. A take-home training kit with a practice manikin allows parents to continue infant CPR training with family members, siblings, babysitters and other caregivers who will have contact with their baby.
Although CHMC provides
infant CPR through its Community
Wellness Department, there was a
gap in the number of babies being
born at the hospital and the number
of people taking the courses. “We
know that the days and weeks
after a child’s birth are hectic and
exhausting for new parents. That’s
why we designed this program
– to provide infant CPR training
before moms are discharged from
the hospital,” said CHMC CPR
Coordinator Wendy Cox, who is
also an American Heart Association
coordinator of CPR training. Cox
continued, “Our goal is to train
100 percent of parents on what to
do if a child is choking, nonresponsive
or not breathing – before
they leave the hospital.”
The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention estimates that
there are about 3,600 infants who
die in the U.S. every year due to
unsafe sleeping environments.
Unintentional suffocation is a
leading cause of all injury deaths
for infants under the age of one
according to AHA. Every year,
Maryland has an average of
55 sleep-related deaths—that’s
more than one infant dying every
week from a largely preventable
cause, according to the Maryland
Patient Safety Center.
“One death is one death
too many,” said CHMC Center
for Family Birth Care Director
Donna Arnstein, who along with
members of her staff initiated
the push to establish the Infant
CPR Anytime® Training at
CalvertHealth.“Currently, our
nurses work with moms after
delivery teaching them all aspects
of newborn care —this program will
reinforce and add to the knowledge
base of new parents,” said Arnstein.
The take-home kits, co-branded
with the American Academy of
Pediatrics, include everything
parents and other caregivers
need to learn the lifesaving skills
of infant CPR and infant choking
relief in about 20 minutes, including
a baby CPR personal manikin, a
bilingual DVD and a skills reminder
card. CHMC covers the entire cost
of the kits.
As a healthcare professional
with more than 10 years of CPR
training, Cox knows that the
more practice in CPR training a
person goes through, the more
confident and calm they will be in an
emergency.
RISK FACTORS in Infant Deaths
- In at least 72 percent of cases,
there were soft objects in the
infant’s sleep area
- In 54 percent of deaths, the
infant was sleeping with an
adult or another child (bedsharing)
- In 45 percent of cases, the
infant was sleeping in an
adult bed
- Thirty-seven percent of infants
were found on their abdomen
or side