San Diego campaign tops 1 million people trained in hands-only CPR

The County of San Diego and UC San Diego said the Revive & Survive San Diego campaign has trained 1,011,034 people in hands-only CPR.

The regional initiative launched in early 2024 and is led by the County and the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at UC San Diego; the coalition includes 49 partners that collectively hosted 25,138 free training events, the county said.

“Cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time,” said Kristi L. Koenig, M.D., the County’s Emergency Medical Services Director. She added that nearly half of the people who suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in San Diego County last year received CPR from a bystander before emergency responders arrived.

“When we envisioned a community CPR education program, we set the ambitious goal of training a million people because of the strength of public health partnerships in San Diego,” said Cheryl A.M. Anderson, PhD, MPH, dean of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health at UC San Diego. She said the community quickly grasped the importance of having 1 in 3 residents in the region ready to save a life if someone’s heart stops beating.

Using simulation modeling, Natasha Martin, DPhil, professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine, estimates that over five years of training could result in more than 1,600 additional bystanders performing CPR, a 40% increase, and save roughly 400 additional lives. She also notes the long-term improvements in survivors’ quality of life.

“Every second matters when it comes to cardiac arrest,” said Jeff Collins, director of San Diego County Fire. He said brain death begins to occur within four to six minutes after cardiac arrest without CPR, and “for every minute that it is delayed the chances of survival decrease by 7 to 10 percent.”

Hands-only CPR keeps blood flowing to vital organs using chest compressions alone; the method focuses on calling 9-1-1 and performing compressions at 100 to 120 beats per minute.

Although the campaign reached its original goal, training efforts will continue. The county and UC San Diego direct people to revivesurvive.ucsd.edu for more information and upcoming training opportunities.

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