Women are half as likely to receive defibrillation during cardiac arrest compared to men.
It’s a statistic that has pushed members of Yamba Surf Life Saving Club into action, with a new initiative that aims to change attitudes and provide education to ensure women receive the same chance of survival as men.
The initiative, CP-HER, is working to raise awareness of this gender CPR gap through a mix of community awareness, the inclusion of inclusive CPR techniques in training and addressing unconscious bias.
“If you ask a lot of people when they’ve done their first aid courses, how many have done it with a female mannequin?” Education Director at Yamba SLSC Keiran Lynch told ABC News Breakfast recently.
Research from 2024 showed only five per cent of women who had an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in 2020-2021 received defibrillation from a bystander, compared with 10 per cent of men. Researchers at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute and Ambulance Victoria said these findings might be due to bystanders feeling uncomfortable about undressing and exposing the breasts of women who are suffering from a cardiac arrest and require defibrillation.
“Multiple studies across Japan, the Netherlands and the United States have reported that female out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients are less likely to have automatic external defibrillator (AED) pads applied to even ascertain cardiac rhythm in the first instance,” Dr Liz Paratz from the Baker Institute said at the time.
“We know there may be some reasons why bystanders may not perform defibrillation on women but it is critical that we address these issues as they could mean the difference between life and death.”
Lynch said he’s heard from people in the Yamba community who’ve done first aid training for 30 years and never had a female mannequin to learn on.
“We would argue that there’s a very simple solution to a not very complex problem by putting in the manual the differences and subtleties of technique that you need for managing women with CPR,” he said.
“Embarrasment is killing women, is one way you could put it.”
The initiative by Yamba SLSC has been supported by Clarence Valley Council.
“My fellow councillors and I were lucky enough to be joined by Kieran from the Yamba Surf Life Saving Club to learn about the initiative and put our First Aid Training to the test with female anatomical feature manikins,” Clarence Valley Mayor Ray Smith said.
“We’re often raised to be modest and to look away in certain situations, but in a life‑threatening emergency, those habits must fall away. When CPR or an AED is needed, our focus should be entirely on saving a life.
“Congratulations and thank you to the Yamba Surf Life Saving Club for creating and sharing this important community safety initiative.”