Guest author:
- GYNNA P. GAGELONIA, Communications Manager at Philippine Heart Association (PHA)
Short like: https://wp.me/paaccn-ngT
MANILA, October 26, 2022 — “The country’s CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) response service is deficient, its emergency medical service system is inefficient despite great efforts from the private sector, particularly the medical community and its industry allies. What is more important than saving a life? The Philippines badly needs a high-functioning, nationwide centralized 911 across the country.”
This statement was made by a team of medical experts and emergency responders from the Philippine Heart Association (PHA), Philippine College of Emergency Medicine (PCEM), Philippine Heart Rhythm Society (PHRS) and two emergency medical technicians in today’s virtual “PHA Usapang Puso sa Puso Forum: Pilipinas, CPR-Ready Ka Na Ba?”, in observance of World Restart a Heart Day (WRHD), an initiative of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) which the PHA is a member of.
Hosted by PHA Council on CPR Chair Dr. Don Robespierre Reyes and Council member Dr. Jason Santos, the webinar featured the PHA Baguio-Benguet Chapter represented by Chapter President Dr. Josephine Milo-Tindungan and Liaison Officer Dr. Desi James Ojascastro, Dr. Kristina Recio from the PHRS, PCEM President Richard Henry Santos and Dr. Melvin Villaruz, an EMT.
The special occasion is both a time for celebration of hits and reckoning of misses, as far as nationwide CPR and emergency response accomplishments are concerned. The group urged lawmakers to pass the pending Emergency Medical Services System (EMSS) Act and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Act.
Reyes also called on the government “to expedite the IRR (Implementing Rules and Regulations of enacted laws like the CPR Act/Republic Act (RA) 10871 (an act that requires K-12 students to undergo age-appropriate hands-only CPR) which lapsed into law on July 17, 2016. That was six years ago.”
Santos said that “we started to push for an EMS Act since 2004. As of today, there are three versions in Senate and four in Congress where they passed the Committee reading but never reached Hearings. Meanwhile, no movement at the Senate because of budgetary issues.”
The experts said “we can’t do it alone”. They also took note that revisiting and beefing up the country’s EMS and CPR readiness is timely now that most people are on a travel mode.
Bringing CPR to Every Community
Perhaps, starting with or shifting to the community level or CPR-Ready Barangay approach would be a more practical move.
“PHA Banguio-Benguet Chapter hails and supports the Baguio City Ordinance 129 (2018) which requires all private and public establishments to provide BLS [Basic Life Support] services by employing personnel trained in CPR to administer CPR and AED in the event of emergencies in their respective establishments”, saId Ojascastro.
Baguio, one of the Philippine’s top tourism jewels was the CPR on Wheels and Wings (CWW) 11th and 17th Destinations in 2017 and 2018, respectively. PHA National and Baguio-Benguet members trained thousands of hospitality (tourism/travel-hotel and restaurant) industry front-liners, workers, students and teachers, et al.
CWW is a joint project between the PHA and Department of Tourism (DOT).
The Chapter has also since taken it upon themselves to go around the city and community offering CPR training.
According to Milo-Tindungan, with regard to the CPR efforts in the community, “ang PHA Baguio-Benguet Chapter is very active in conducting CPR training, we even go around sa mga schools and other establishments offering the service.”
Milo-Tindungan was part of the CWW team in Baguio-Benguet. In recent years, however, the campaign lost steam as well as involvement from the local government.
“…Tinanong kung may IRR [City Ordinance], so far walang ganon. So, ngayon, 2022, may amendment na pinasa ng isang Councilor na pinpoint ang CDRRMO [City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Officer], pero na sa reading stage pa rin.” Milo-Tindungan mentioned.
SCA and MI
What is the difference between sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and heart attack? To further elevate the lay people’s knowledge about preventive and reactive cardiology, Dr. Kristine Recio, an officer of the PHRS, said that SCA which concerns the electrical circuit of the heart, and heart attack or myocardial infarction (MI) which covers the heart’s plumbing system, are two difference cases.
But a heart attack can trigger a SCA. She further added that SCA is like “ghosting”, you don’t see it coming because the heart just beats super fast and makes a suddent halt. While a heart attack occurs when a blood vessel is more than 70 percent full of cholesterol build-up that results in blockage.
EMTs as CPR, Emergency responders
For his part, Villaruz explained that “as a Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) trainer/assessor, those who want to become EMTs go through our training”.
He added that “there seems to be a deficiency in CPR knowledge among participants, which the PHA has thankfully helped correct by teaching the proper procedures.”
Meanwhile, the PHA Council on CPR has been tirelessly pushing for greater CPR awareness as well as conducting BLS and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) training in a bid to establish a CPR-Ready Philippines.
Reyes stressed that despite the more lenient Covid-19 restrictions, the 5Cs of CPR (Check, Call, Cover, Compress & Connect) still have to be applied.
As of May 2022, the PHA CPR-Ready Campaign has trained 1.025 million Filipinos. Vis-à-vis the current Philippine population, 1.025M is a minute 1% of 112.5 million.
An important factor that added to this number was the yearly, simultaneous nationwide pre-pandemic CPR and CWW trainings and pandemic period hybrid training across the nation.
Focusing on innovation in order to adjust to the “new normal” brought about by Covid-19, a hybrid of online learning and face-to-face practical tests were developed by the PHA Council on CPR during the pandemic to teach hands-only CPR, ensuring both the safety of responder and victim.
Additionally, to continue upgrading and spreading the skill of CPR among Filipinos, the PHA Council on CPR conducted its 14th Training of Trainers from October 21 to 23; the first face-to-face workshop since the pandemic began. In attendance were 50 BLS, 27 ACLS aspiring trainers along with 37 core group trainers comprised of both adult and pediatric cardiologists.
The PHA Council on CPR is also celebrating its 40th year since it was brought to life in 1982. (✓)