A new CPR training kiosk offers life-saving information in a more inclusive manner – with bilingual instructions. The Spanish- and English-speaking device is now available at the Maria de los Santos Health Center in North Philadelphia.
The device will help train many new and returning patients and have a far-reaching impact, Delaware Valley Community Health Senior VP and CEO Brenda Robles-Cooke said.
“Delaware Valley Community Health runs the Maria de los Santos Health Center,” she said. “That health center has been in the Latino community since 1985 and we have a loyal following of patients and new community members. We serve, on that campus, over 23,000 people.”
The kiosk offers a 10-minute course during which people can learn to do CPR, in either Spanish or English. It includes a screen with lessons and prompts, and a dummy for practicing chest compressions.
Robles-Cooke emphasized the need for CPR training devices in more locations. She said these resources are especially important for the Latino community.
“CPR is life-saving at the moment, before paramedics can get to the scene,” she said. “And what we know from the data is that Latinos or Hispanic communities lack this essential resource of people that actually know how to do CPR. So that’s why it’s crucial that it’s in our community, because just those saving measures can save a life.”
In her position, Robles-Cook does not need to be CPR certified. Even so, she tried out the new kiosk and made an impression.
“It was really hard,” she said. “But like seeing it now, I feel like if someone was going into [cardiac] distress right in front of me, I can actually feel like I can link my hands together and press in the right location, and I know that I have to press deeper until paramedics arrive at the scene.”
She highlighted the importance of a machine to teach these basics – as her short experience trying it out made her feel more prepared if she had to step into an emergency situation.
Robles-Cooke explained this machine could serve as a life-saving mechanism – both in the health center, and outside of it.
“We’ve had emergency situations in the waiting area where patients are coming in seeking help and have complained of chest pain or have fainted at the health center in the waiting room,” she said. “We have mechanisms in place that we call a code blue and that alerts the rest of the clinicians to come forward and help in the situation. Having this training on site could possibly save someone’s life, because if [someone has the training] when sitting next to them, they know what to do in terms of outcomes.”
The machine also self-reports how many people are using it and completing the course. Robles-Cooke said that during the unveiling of the machine, a Spanish-speaking patient mentioned that even though she hadn’t completed the course, simply seeing the machine and where the appropriate placements for CPR were was helpful in understanding the process.
“She knew that there was CPR, but she didn’t know how to start it or anything like that,” the CEO said. “She said, just visually looking at even the monitor – because it teaches you hand placement, teaches you where, teaches you how to do the heart, and then go a little bit up, and then there you press – she said this gave her an awareness that she never knew.”
Robles-Cooke hopes to see expanded access to these kinds of CPR trainers in the future.
Those interested in trying out the machine can visit the Maria de los Santos Health Center in North Philadelphia. The center is a health hub – providing family and adult medicine, pediatrics, dental, podiatry and medication dispensaries. Robles-Cooke calls it a “one-stop shop.”
