By: Shriya Raja

According to the American Heart Association, cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. In fact, more than 350,000 people will suffer cardiac arrest outside of a hospital environment but will still need immediate medical attention. This public health issue is what Strive to Save Lives aims to address with a significant focus on high school students and teens. Provided by the American Red Cross of North Texas, the Strive to Save Lives initiative grants free First Aid/CPR/AED and First Aid for Severe Trauma (FAST) training for youth and young adult volunteers and adult volunteers in the North Texas region.  

Created in November 2021, the Strive to Save Lives initiative broadened its availability in July 2022 by targeting youth and young adults, offering classes on weekends at new locations and Red Cross clubs. To date, the program has offered 31 classes at three locations, with three participating Red Cross clubs and has trained and certified more than 200 volunteers. According to Rohan Jupelly, founder and Program Lead of Strive to Save Lives in North Texas, the effort has started to address the prolific out-of-hospital cardiac arrests resulting in death. 

Jupelly, who is looking to pursue a career in the medical field, has many personal goals and ideologies that align with those of Strive to Save Lives. He describes his experience of having a family member with heart disease, namely, his grandfather.  

"My grandpa has had run-ins with the hospital, specifically because he has heart disease. About four years ago, he had a heart attack and collapsed in the middle of the road. Fortunately, there was someone there to help him, and although the situation did not require CPR, the moment stuck with me," Jupelly said. 

Jupelly explains that after becoming president of the North Texas Red Cross Youth Services Executive Board, he wanted to make a meaningful difference in people's lives, especially in an area that had personally affected him. 

"That, in addition to the evident necessity of people being trained in First Aid/CPR/AED and FAST (First Aid for Severe Trauma), is what led to the conception of this program," Jupelly said. 

Despite the growing awareness of First Aid/CPR/AED training, only about 18 percent of the U.S. population are up to date with their training, and even fewer are familiar with bleeding control techniques. The scarcity of trained civilians can be highly detrimental in a life-threatening situation. 

“With over 25 percent of the U.S. population comprised of those under 18, why should such a predominant portion of our population not be trained to help those in need? Why not increase the chances of saving someone's life?” asked Jupelly. 

"A few studies show that CPR done within the first three to five minutes of cardiac arrest makes an individual two to three times more likely to survive. The response time of emergency responders is usually about seven minutes and largely depends on the population density of the area, and the lack of a trained bystander could most likely lead to fatality nine out of ten times," Jupelly said. 

The Strive to Save Lives program trains people to close that seven-minute gap and ensure that those suffering from cardiac arrest or other severe trauma receive life-saving interventions that increase their chances of survival. The American Heart Association estimates that only about 40 percent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest events receive immediate help before professional medics arrive.    

The program can affect thousands of volunteers in the North Texas Region, and the Strive to Save Lives team's recent partnership with North Texas CPR business, Revitalize CPR, has furthered its reach.   

Managed by the recent college graduate Giezi Contreras, Revitalize CPR was established to train medical professionals in BLS, CPR/AED, and FAST. Contreras graduated from the University of Chicago in 2022. During college, he volunteered as an emergency medical responder in the Red Cross EMS unit. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, he became a training officer at the Red Cross and helped revamp the Training Services program by recruiting and training about 100 volunteers in CPR and First Aid. Discovering his passion for teaching life-saving skills, Contreras decided to start his own business after he graduated, mainly training health professionals. Since the partnership with Strive to Save Lives, Contreras and Jupelly can reach a much larger audience. 

"This partnership was always a goal of mine in opening the business. I wanted to really get into high schools and middle schools to teach life-saving skills since this particular demographic isn't normally targeted," Contreras said. 

Contreras plans to attend medical school starting in July and hopes to continue his business during medical school. 

"I will be attending medical school in Austin, so I hope to make some connections and maybe even expand this program beyond just the Dallas-Fort Worth area," he said. 

Together, Jupelly, Contreras, and the rest of the Strive to Save Lives Team are now providing free First Aid for Severe Trauma and affordable First Aid/CPR/AED training to middle and high school students across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. They have already successfully trained over 150 students, in addition to Red Cross trained volunteers, with plans to train and certify five times more by the end of the school year. 

As with any program or business, knowing that all the hard work invested is making a difference is important. When Jupelly was asked if he had visibly seen the impact of the two programs, he replied that he had not. However, he explains that the value of their initiative lies in its untapped potential. 

"I think the beauty of what we're doing is that we might not necessarily see the beneficial outcomes with our own eyes, but we know that because of what we are doing, ultimately, one day, some of these skills we are teaching to the volunteers and students we train will be used to save a life. I think that is a good enough motivating factor for us to continue what we are doing."