Creating a sustainable community cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) program that reaches underserved communities poses a challenge for the emergency medical services (EMS) community. Attendance, funding, and resources have all been linked to struggles surrounding community CPR/AED programs. Through our experience in conducting CPR/AED trainings in underserved regions of eastern North Carolina, we propose a method of effectively utilizing existing organizations and institutions of learning to expand and maintain a sustainable community CPR/AED program. Furthermore, we demonstrate 10 cornerstones in developing relationships within the community to increase attendance and participation in diverse communities.
Keywords: bystander CPR; community CPR; health care disparities; out of hospital cardiac arrest.
© 2024 The Authors. Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians Open published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American College of Emergency Physicians.