Singapore Heart Foundation sets goal of 1 million trained community first responders over next 5 years

Singapore aims to significantly bolster its emergency response capabilities by training one million community first responders in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) use over the next five years. This ambitious goal by the Singapore Heart Foundation (SHF) comes in response to a concerning rise in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, which saw a 12% increase from the previous year to a record 4,058 cases in 2022.

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If you train a million, that means almost every household or every other household will have one person trained in CPR.

Geoffrey Ong, CEO of SHF, highlighted the critical importance of immediate intervention, noting that survival rates for cardiac arrest drop by 10% for every minute without CPR. "If you train a million, that means almost every household or every other household will have one person trained in CPR," he stated. Currently, approximately 270,000 individuals are registered as community first responders on the myResponder app, managed by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

To achieve its target, SHF is implementing a multi-pronged strategy. This includes training 170,000 students in higher learning institutions and collaborating with the Ministry of Education to equip 300,000 teenagers with CPR skills. The foundation also plans to train 10,000 people by the end of 2026, more than double the 4,500 trained so far this year, with a large-scale free CPR training event, Project Heart, scheduled for October.

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I felt nervous, but I had to remain calm. I tried my best and we gave the victim as much chance of survival as possible.

Partnerships with skills training providers and corporations will extend training to the general public and employees at workplaces. Furthermore, SHF is expanding its instructor pool by training aspiring healthcare professionals, such as paramedic and nursing students who already possess CPR and AED certifications. The foundation's efforts are supported by active community responders like 15-year-old Joshua Hiew, who has responded to over 50 emergencies since learning CPR and AED skills in 2024 and has received multiple awards from the SCDF.

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If no one did anything, the person will pass away.