Last week, representatives from the American Heart Association and Amerigroup Foundation visited Cooper to present the 500 Infant CPR Anytime® Kits. Front row (left to right) Andrew Crouse and Michelle Crouse, new parents at Cooper; Assemblywoman Patricia Egan Jones; Linda Wicker, RN, MSN, CCRN, Nurse Educator, Cooper. Back row (left to right) Bill Thompsen, Senior VP Health Strategies, AHA; Tom Mossotti, Senior Community CPR Manager for AHA Founders’ region; Robert Goodman, AHA South-Central NJ Board of Directors; John Koehn, Amerigroup New Jersey President; Dr. Michael H. Goodman, Chief of Pediatrics, Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper.
The American Heart Association (AHA) with the support from the Amerigroup Foundation has donated 500 Infant CPR Anytime® kits to Cooper University Health Care for use in training new parents on emergency lifesaving techniques. Cooper will provide the Infant CPR Anytime kits to parents whose babies are discharged from the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and will be the first hospital in New Jersey to offer the Infant CPR Anytime training on their telehealth patient portal.
“The American Heart Association is proud to offer these high-quality instructional tools to help new parents become trained and knowledgeable on how to respond if their baby suffers a cardiac emergency,” said Robert Goodman, survivor ambassador, heart transplant recipient, and incoming American Heart Association South-Central NJ Regional board member from Westampton, NJ. “The kits will make it convenient for parents and others such as caregivers and grandparents who will be with the baby for a prolonged time period to learn lifesaving skills.”
The Infant CPR Anytime Kit provides a 22-minute training session that teaches parents the core skills of infant CPR and choking relief. The kit focuses on training for emergencies involving newborns to 12-months and includes an infant CPR mannequin, training DVD, and two reference cards. The Association created the kit’s contents in coordination with the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“Amerigroup is honored to work with the American Heart Association. This collaboration exemplifies our mission of providing consumers with educational health care resources and we are especially pleased to be helping new parents transitioning home from the NICU learn about CPR and choking relief,” said John Koehn, Amerigroup New Jersey President. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to supporting community initiatives, such as CPR training, as we strongly believe that education and access to high quality health care are the critical components to help consumers improve their health and well-being.”
More than 7,000 children suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest annually, according to the American Heart Association. While the reported number of infant out-of-hospital cardiac arrests varies widely, survival to hospital discharge averages 6.2 percent for children less than one year old who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Seventy percent of cardiac arrests (adult and infant) occur at home.
“Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper is pleased to be teaming up with the American Heart Association and Amerigroup to provide this invaluable education to our patients,” said Michael H. Goodman, MD, Chief of Pediatrics at Cooper University Health Care. “Every day we provide the highest level of care to help babies and their families get a good start in life following premature birth or with serious health issues. The CPR Anytime kit will further support our ongoing education efforts.”
“Nothing can be scarier to a new parent than when their precious little one is in danger,” said Assemblywoman Patricia Egan Jones (D-Camden/Gloucester). “I applaud this proactive campaign to ensure that parents are empowered to be first responders to an emergency, so they can take the immediate and necessary steps to save the life of their child.”
Click here to learn more about the Hands-Only CPR campaign and learn how to save a life, or visit the American Heart Association’s CPR Facebook page by clicking here.