Community Responsiveness

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating. The victim is not responsive and does not breathe normally. Mortality is usually high and timely intervention, also known as the ‘Chain of Survival’, is critical to increase the victim’s chances of survival. In 2020, more than 3,400 Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) cases happened in Singapore.

During this process, the calling of 995, administering of bystander CardioPulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and the use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) on the victim are interventions that can be performed by any layperson. CPR awareness and training need to start from the community. We believe it is important to invest in raising the health literacy/awareness of our population, as a long term strategy to improve bystander CPR and cardiac arrest survival in our communities.

The DARE programme focuses on educating the public on this life-saving skill and aims to increase the survival rate of cardiac arrest from 20% to at least 30%, similar to cities such as Seattle, Tokyo or Seoul where survival rates range from 30% to 50%.