Every second counts in a cardiac arrest; yet gender disparity still shapes who receives lifesaving bystander CPR. This International Women’s Day, Magpas Air Ambulance is working to change that.
In addition to championing women in the still male-dominated field of pre-hospital emergency medicine, the lifesaving Cambridgeshire-based charity also focuses on raising awareness of the gender inequalities around bystander CPR through its work.
Sadly, in the event of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, women are less likely to receive bystander CPR compared to men. This discrepancy has been attributed to people not recognising the signs of cardiac arrest in women, an embarrassment of touching women and to fears of causing women harm.
Magpas Air Ambulance’s CPR Training Lead, Nicola Cooper, is passionate about changing this, and addresses all these topics in her CPR and defibrillator training sessions; equipping Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire community groups, businesses and schools with lifesaving skills and knowledge for all.
Nicola has also championed Magpas Air Ambulance’s vital investment to secure funding for female CPR manikins (equipment still not widely used in CPR training) to normalise and practice providing CPR on female bodies.
In addition, the charity has also produced a series of CPR videos with Nicola and Magpas Air Ambulance clinicians, teaching viewers how to perform CPR and use a defibrillator, and addressing concerns she regularly encounters in her community training, with one particularly focusing on the topic of providing bystander CPR on women.
Nicola’s passion for equality in CPR and work with marginalised groups in the county has not gone unnoticed. In December, the CPR Trainer was awarded the ‘Breaking Barriers Award’ at the national Air Ambulance Awards of Excellence. Recognising her outstanding work in widening access, inclusion and innovation in training and outreach, Nicola was praised for her championship of equality and accessible lifesaving education through her work at Magpas Air Ambulance.
Determined to ensure that CPR and defibrillator skills are available to everyone, she has built trusted relationships with underrepresented groups, including Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire based women’s groups, refugees and the Cambridge Mosque, and has worked hard to raise greater awareness of the gender disparity in bystander CPR. By adapting and translating training materials and fostering safe spaces for learning, Nicola has trained more than 8,550 people in the past year alone—with 100% reporting they now feel confident to act in a cardiac emergency.
Nicola says, “This year’s International Women’s Day theme is ‘Give to Gain’, and if we can use this worldwide campaign to give people the knowledge, skills and courage to provide CPR to anyone who needs it, the gain will be for women in our region and beyond; who should receive immediate help if they ever suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
“I address concerns around providing women with CPR in every one of my training sessions, and I think I speak for us all when I say that I would rather be topless in the middle of a supermarket with someone performing CPR and using a defibrillator, than die from a cardiac arrest. This is something that echoes across all women that I’ve ever taught CPR to. It’s such an important message to share: women deserve to live as much as men do.”
If you want to learn a lifesaving skill, visit our CPR training page to find out more.
