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. 2020 Oct 15;155:S32. doi: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2020.08.093

“KIDS SAVE LIVES in Greece-National training program of schoolchildren in cardiopulmonary resuscitation”: Evaluating the impact of a 4 year nationwide educational seminar

Anastasis Stefanakis 1,, Sigala Evangelia 2, Anastasis Samaras 3, Charalambos Kapnopoulos 4, Georgia Antonopoulou 5, Eleni Papadopoulou 2, Ioulia Magkou 6, Mursini Psichogioudaki 7, Panagiotis Patsaouras 8, Christina Vlachopoulou 9, Ioanna Efthimiou 10, Antigoni Varvarouta 11, Vasiliki Flouda 12, Konstantinos Fortounis 13, Varvara Fyntanidou 14
PMCID: PMC7557270

Purpose: “KIDS SAVE LIVES” is a suggested training program by European Resuscitation Council (ERC) and aims to educate all children in First Aid. We aimed to present the results of KIDS SAVE LIVES training program for the period 2016–2019.

Methods: The Humanitarian Organisation “KIDS SAVE LIVES -Tα Παιδιά Σώζουν Zωέζ” and the Hellenic Society of Emergency Prehospital Care set up a plan for establishing mandatory education of schoolchildren over 10 years old in CPR. Having the approval of Greek Ministry of Education, the aforementioned Organisations implemented CPR training in primary and secondary schools.

Results: After 4 years of KIDS SAVE LIVES initiation in Greece, 53,793 schoolchildren ≥10 yrs, teachers, and parents were trained in 559 schools (46,217, 6681 and 895 accordingly). Today, Greece is the country with the youngest certified Instructors in Europe (100 BLS Provider and Instructor courses in schools). 18 victims of OHCA resuscitated by trained bystanders and Nefeli, is the first child that resuscitated an OHCA victim; 6 volunteers resuscitated 12 choking victims. Moreover, the program has been achieved the establishment of 140 public AEDs, the creation of an application with the location of 442 AEDs, the national school CPR championship, the Virtual Reality-CPR training, and online lessons of students due to COVID-19 prevention measures. The official law proposal for the establishment of CPR training as a basic school subject has already applied to the Ministry of Education. The pilot phase is expected to begin in September of 2020 with the initiation of CPR lessons by teachers who have been trained by our program.

Conclusion: KIDS SAVE LIVES course is a successful method for mass training events. Incorporating training into the mandatory education syllabus, will facilitate the formation of a pool of young promising rescuers and contributing so to the future improvement of survival after OHCA.


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