September: National Preparedness Month

Disque Foundation Offers Coronavirus Prevention Resources and Free Advanced Health Care Training During National Preparedness Month.

August 27, 2020 Chicago – September is designated as National Preparedness Month. Since Disque Foundation’s inception in 2012 its mission, in partnership with SaveaLife.com, has been to empower people with free advanced health care training so they are prepared for emergencies. In September, the Foundation has set up even more free resources to help people during the pandemic here.

During the COVID-19 crisis, Disque Foundation has seen a huge increase in the number of people who seek certification in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Traffic to its website increased from 20,000 visitors per day to 200,000. In the past three months, the Disque Foundation has trained and certified 850,000 people in CPR, almost 9,000 people per day. In addition, required training and certification for health care workers fighting the pandemic on the frontlines in hospitals has increased exponentially because in-person trainings are now unavailable for those professionals. These certifications are also being offered for free.

The Foundation has also noticed an interesting correlation between its website traffic and countries hit hardest by the pandemic. Visitors from Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru far outnumber visitors from the other 180 countries that go to SaveaLife.com for training. Domestically, visitors from states considered “hot spots” far outnumber visitors from other states. Disque Foundation trainings are following the stages of this global pandemic and helping those most affected.

The Disque Foundation has COVID-19 prevention resources here as these measures remain critical and more here about why advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) and pediatric life support (PALS) skills are particularly important during the pandemic. More information about why COVID-19 patients are particularly vulnerable to cardiac arrest and updated algorithms are available here.  

Disque Foundation Director of Outreach and Mission Fulfillment Drew Downing is a disaster preparedness expert (and author of the prevention article in the link above) and has spent a decade in public health and disaster response, working with local, state, and federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Orange County Health Care Agency. He is available for interviews.

More about the Disque Foundation

The Disque Foundation empowers people to save lives by providing advanced health care education to underserved populations in the United States and around the world. Through its Save a Life Initiative, the Disque team teaches multiple life-support courses through a first-of-its-kind, free online platform. The Foundation has empowered nearly 3 million people and is on track to accomplish its goal of empowering 10 million people by 2025.

For interviews:

Amy Christenson

amy@christensongray.com

312.209.9531