Washington, DC Chapter

To make a donation (via secure web form) directly to this chapter: AWSLinkToForm[14,5]

The DC Chapter works with the Cheney Cardiovascular Institute and other community organizations to spread awareness of SCA and promote healthy lifestyles. The chapter's steering committee will distribute SCA awareness and prevention materials to groups in a variety of community health programs across the city. The chapter will also focus on access to CPR and AED training among other resuscitation-oriented initiatives.

CHAPTER NEWS AND EVENTS

School Year Kicks Off with Lessons in Life-Saving Skills
Regina Arnold of the Washington, DC chapter led a presentation on sudden cardiac arrest before nearly 200 ninth and eleventh grade students at the Maret School in Washington, D.C. on September 8. In addition to learning about the prevalence of SCA, its risk factors and the differences between a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest, students were able to see how an AED works, with some gaining "hands on" experience by performing CPR and applying an AED in a simulated exercise.

SCAA Board member Richard Brown, who is both a SCA survivor and the parent of a Maret student, also shared his personal experience with the students. The event was part of the Maret School's student orientation program for the 2009-2010 academic year and is the second year that SCAA has been part of the back-to-school orientation. The school's entire 400-person high school student body has now been given an SCA course and more than a dozen teachers have been certified in CPR.