CPR training kiosk debuts in Church Hill, will rotate around the area

A new kiosk will be greeting customers at Richmond’s The Market at 25th. But it’s not a machine that turns coins into cash or a spot to buy lottery tickets. Instead it's a kiosk that gives hands-on cardiopulmonary resuscitation lessons, commonly known as CPR.  

“The kiosk takes about five minutes or less to complete,” said Dr. Anika Hines, board president of the American Heart Association of Central Virginia, speaking at a launch event Friday. “More than 350,000 people experience a cardiac arrest outside of the hospital every year, including 23,000 children. Unfortunately, 90% of people do not survive.”

Looking like an odd video game, the free-to-use kiosk features a touch screen along with a video program that gives a brief introduction of its features. Then it gives an overview of hands-only CPR, which happens on a practice rubber torso mannequin. Users then take a 30-test performing hand compressions to a soundtrack of the Bee Gee’s song “Staying Alive.” The goal is to get a passing rate of 70%. 

“The kiosk gives feedback about the depth and the rate of compressions, as well as hand placement, factors that are important for effective CPR,” said Hines. “CPR is a critical skill that kids as young as 9-years-old can learn.”

Hines said recent studies show that people experiencing cardiac arrest are less likely to get help from a bystander when the victim is a person of color. 

“Black adults and members of racial and ethnic minority groups actually are less likely to experience bystander CPR,” she said. “In addition, women are 22% less likely to receive bystander CPR and to survive cardiac arrest compared to men. These are due to factors such as fear and other factors like lack of education.”

The CPR training kiosk at The Market at 25th is the first one in the state, said Hines. The machine has been featured in other states in places like the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport since 2013, according to the American Heart Association. There, more than 25,000 people have learned the procedure, with almost 80% initiating the session. 

“Our goal is for at least one person in every household to learn hands-only CPR here in the East End community, as well as in the broader Central Virginia area,” said Hines. 

Hines, along with other members from the American Heart Association, the Richmond Ambulance Authority and representatives from the Richmond based company Genworth, which sponsored the kiosk, were at the event. Also speaking was Elizabeth Jackson, who survived a sudden cardiac arrest last year.

“It was a normal work day for me as a preschool teacher. After receiving heartbreaking news from a friend, I excused myself from my classroom, and from that moment, I lost consciousness. I felt my memory losing,” she said. 

However, she was able to drive herself home, shower and eat dinner. It was during her family’s movie night when felt something go wrong. 

“Suddenly, my family heard me scream out, ‘hold on,’ and my head fell back into the sofa,” said Jackson. “Within minutes, my 17-year-old granddaughter realized that I was having a cardiac arrest. She learned this through her mandatory high school class that she had to attend.”

Her granddaughter and her son-in-law took action by giving compressions until the Chesterfield Fire Department arrived. The experience continued at St. Francis Hospital, where she was placed into a medically induced coma for three days; and later having a defibrillator put inside her chest, in addition to a pacemaker. 

“I am a survivor. Amen,” Jackson said. “My hope is that this community, as well as communities throughout the United States of America, receive CPR training. Raise awareness and share the importance with family, friends, co-workers, church members and neighbors. Remember when faced with life-threatening situations, be brave and take action.”

Before Friday’s event, employees at the market, like security guard Evan Cartwright, began using the machine. Managers at the store are having all the employees take a class to learn CPR. 

“I wanted to try it because when we deal with a lot of people like that, they're coming here sick and everything,” said Cartwright. “So, I took up the class because I think that a person should know how to do that, just in case they have to help someone. Because you never know, I might need it.”

Michelle Nostheide, executive director of the American Heart Association said the kiosk will be able to meet people where they are and that it will move to other locations in the state.

“We're going to move it nine times in the next three years,” she said. “It's starting and debuting in a very important place here at The Market at 25th, but I would encourage you to follow its journey as it goes along these next few years and hopefully we can get some funding and get more kiosks and have them all over the Central Virginia area.”