VIGAN CITY—Heart doctors, provincial and barangay health workers, tourism stakeholders and their staff and students gathered at the Vigan Convention Center to learn and train for the Philippine Heart Association’s (PHA) flagship lay cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training drive, “CPR on Wheels and Wings” (CWW), in the prominent cities of Vigan, Ilocos Sur, and Laoag, Ilocos Norte, from November 19 to 21.
A two-day free hands-only CPR training course and discussion on the lifesaving device, the automated external defibrillator (AED), was provided to the Ilocano community spearheaded by Dr. Orlando Bugarin and Dr. Francis Lavapie—former and current PHA CPR Council chairmen, respectively—who hosted the event and led the sessions and practical demonstrations on mannequins.
Aside from the two doctors, helping oversee the training were PHA national officers led by PHA President Dr. Jorge Sison, Immediate past President and CWW Chairman Dr. Raul Lapitan and PHA North Luzon Chapter President Dr. Joseph Dimaano.
An ancillary unit of nurses, medical interns and residents, emergency medical technicians and other health professionals went through the “Training the Trainers” refresher course on Basic Life Support and Advanced Cardiac Life Support prior to the program proper to help facilitate the training.
The CWW gained complete support for the first time from both the city government and Congress through Rep. Deogracias Victor Savellano of the First District of Ilocos Sur in paving the way for at least 3,000 lay trainees to attend the first leg of the CPR training tour.
Dr. Gloria Lahoz, past president of PHA North Luzon, said Savellano donated 65 AEDs to cities and towns in Ilocos Sur, with Vigan City getting six AEDs. Vigan used to have AEDs placed in the public market, the Bureau of Fire Protection and the famed Calle Crisologo. The six new AEDs will be placed in the heritage site and other public places.
Composed of two batches—public and private-sector employees, barangay health workers (BHW), city government employees, including stakeholders in the travel, hotel, resort and restaurant sectors—the Bigueños enthusiastically immersed themselves in the whole-day training, lectures and demonstrations, which included mouth-to-mouth resuscitation for drowning victims and use of the AED.
During the lectures and demo, the heart specialists stressed hands-only CPR increases the victim’s chance of survival from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) by 30 percent. Coupled with an AED, it rises to as much as 75 percent.
The handy lifesaving device is a smart mechanism attached to the SCA victim’s chest that reads heart signals and provides necessary electrical shock to restore heart beat.
“The electrical system to the heart malfunctions and suddenly becomes dangerously fast and stops. That’s when emergency CPR should be done to prevent irreversible brain damage. Hands-only CPR when administered on time and correctly can save the life of the SCA victim,” Lavapie said.
Early and effective hands-only CPR done through continuous 100 and 120, 2.5 inch-deep chest compressions per minute within four to six minutes or while waiting for medical authorities or the ambulance, prevents irreversible brain damage.
Aptly named “The Heritage City of the Philippines” for its profusion of preserved 18th-century Spanish-style neighborhoods and streets that earned it a plaque among the New 7 Wonders of the World, as well as the coveted United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site category, Vigan quickly rose to the top of tourism tiers as one of the country’s most-visited destinations.
Further north into Ilocos Norte, the second day of CWW with over 1,000 participants signing up for the free training, was held at the Laoag City Auditorium.
Involving both local government employees and BHWs, and a slew of travel agents, tour guides, hotel and resort personnel and restaurant staff, the trainees were provided pointers on the proper stance and, compression techniques and, most important, on early identification of SCA.
“First, recognition is very important,” Bugarin said. “An SCA victim has no pulse. To double check, tap or shake the person. If it is a case of fainting due to excessive alcohol intake or head trauma, they should regain consciousness after a minute or two.”
Considering the large influx of visitors and tourist activities in the region, the PHA decidedly saw fit to hold CWW trainings in the cities to maximize its status as a safe-paradise destination through having CPR-skilled staff and residents and AED-equipped facilities.
The CWW campaign’s focus is the average or layperson. Being involved in the training program transforms the simplest man on the street, a field worker, a peddler, among Vigan’s cobbled streets or cocheros (coachman) into “walking lifesavers.”
“Eighty percent of SCAs occur outside the hospital, sometimes at home and in the presence of a loved one who does not know how to do CPR,” Lapitan said.
A joint-advocacy undertaking of the PHA and the Department of Tourism (DOT), the CWW was designed as the vehicle that will rev up the journey toward the goal of a CPR-Ready Philippines by 2021.
The program aims to make the country at pace with its Asian, American and European counterparts who are CPR- and medical-emergency prepared.
Lavapie said, “AEDs are a common sight in the public areas of Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand,” where citizens as young as 8 years old are CPR-trained and public places are AED-equipped. It will also further enhance the positive image of the Philippines as a paradise destination through maximizing safety and care among facilities
and venues.
Future CWW destinations include Samar, Bacolod, Laguna, Isabela, Bohol, Bicol, Cebu, Marinduque, Maguindanao, Guimaras and Palawan, as PHA continues its lay endeavors toward achieving its goal of CPR-ready communities and cities and ultimately CPR-Ready Philippines by 2021.