Baylor students have worked to make a difference in the community by organizing and leading a MassCPR event, held Saturday, March 14. This is the second year students have held the event. It was initiated in 2014 by Vidya Eswaran, now a third-year medical student, and led this year by second-year medical student Samuel Buck.
Using a research paper by Houston’s Director of Emergency Medical Services, David Persse, professor of emergency medicine at Baylor, students were able to identify areas with the highest ratio of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest to number of CPR providers. MassCPR partnered with Harris Health and the Red Cross to bring free classes at outpatient clinics in these identified areas. In two years, MassCPR has trained more than 150 Houstonians with the help of 70 volunteers.
The CPR training was held at Settegast Health Clinic, Northwest, Health Clinic, Gulfgate Health Clinic and Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church. Baylor students were assisted by several organizations, including the Emergency Medicine Resident Association, which provided a $1,000 grant; BCM GLOW Grant committee, $1,750 grant; Red Cross, which provided 50 CPR mannequins; and Harris Health, which provided the host locations.
“MassCPR provides a teaching opportunity for BCM students and allows them to get involved in a community outreach project,” said Jake Valentine, a second-year medical student who was one of the event coordinators. “It closely matches the BCM mission which includes ’to further education, healthcare and community service locally and globally.’”
Students plan to continue expanding the event, and hope to train 250 people in a single day for next year’s event.
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