First female CPR dummy created to help save women suffering from cardiac arrest

The product was created after a study found women are 27 per cent less likely than men to receive CPR

Sarah Young
Tuesday 04 June 2019 17:23 BST
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First female CPR dummy presented by company to help save womens lives

An advertising agency has created the first-ever attachment designed to convert a standard CPR dummy into a female version.

The product, which has been produced by New York-based creative agency JOAN, was designed following a recent study by Dr Audrey Blewer which found that women suffering from a cardiac arrest in public are 27 per cent less likely than men to receive CPR.

The research determined that this is because people are often unsure how to navigate administering CPR around a woman’s breasts.

As a result, JOAN has created a special attachment, called the WoManikin, for standard dummy models with the hopes of enabling trainees to become accustomed to performing CPR on bodies with breasts.

As well as addressing gender disparities, the advertising agency hopes the dummy and its associated campaign will also help to tackle the unease some men experience when it comes to performing CPR on a woman.

This comes after a 2018 survey by the University of Colorado found that men are twice as likely as women to cite a fear of accusations of inappropriate touching or sexual assault as a reason for not administering the potentially life-saving act.

“At the core of JOAN’s ethos is a deep-rooted commitment to gender equality,“ said Jaime Robinson, JOAN co-founder and chief creative officer.

”When we read about the study and this long-standing problem in the world of CPR, we saw a relatively simple way to help change things.

“CPR manikins are designed to look like human bodies, but they actually represent less than half of our society,” she added.

“The absence of women’s bodies in CPR training results in hesitation from bystanders, which in turn results in women being more likely to die in cardiac arrest. Our hope is that the WoManikin will bridge this gap in education and, ultimately, save many lives.”

JOAN has unveiled the product and launched its campaign to coincide with National CPR Awareness Week, which falls between 1-7 June in the US.

The campaign includes a social media challenge on Instagram that asks women to share video clips of themselves with two hand emojis over their heart, including the hashtag #GiveMeCPR.

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The British Heart Foundation (BHF) states that anyone who witnesses a cardiac arrest should call 999 and start CPR immediately.

You can find out how to perform CPR and watch the BHF’s CPR training video for a step-by-step demonstration here.

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