About

Hands2Heart NOLA is a New Orleans-based education initiative that seeks to reduce known gender biases in citizen CPR provision to women and increase the gender-and racially-sensitive representation of women’s bodies in CPR training to improve survival outcomes for women and vulnerable individuals experiencing Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA).

The Hands2Heart NOLA initiative started when a Public Health student, and current Albert Schweitzer Fellow, with a heart condition and a history of her own OHCA read an article stating that women are less likely than men to receive CPR from a bystander during an OHCA. Through a partnership between the New Orleans Albert Schweitzer Fellowship and Heartbeat NOLA, the Hands2Heart NOLA education initiative aims to:

  • Provide publicly available educational materials on existing gender and racial biases in CPR provision and training and how to overcome them
  • Normalize CPR provision to women by using fabric breast attachments representing women of varying skin tones as gender- and racially-sensitive education tools in CPR training
  • Make CPR skills training easily accessible in New Orleans public spaces
  • Increase the number of AEDs in New Orleans public spaces

Hands2Heart NOLA is currently developing bias awareness education materials to incorporate into CPR training courses for non-healthcare professionals in the greater New Orleans area. You can find these materials on our Resources page.

To learn about the gender biases present in CPR and the underrepresentation of women’s bodies in CPR skills training, visit our Bias in CPR page.

Hands2Heart NOLA encourages clinical and non-clinical healthcare providers and citizens to educate themselves on the existing biases in CPR provision that can affect survival outcomes for women. We also encourage women to advocate for their lives and the normalization of CPR to women by participating in our events, becoming a partner, and dispersing bias awareness and CPR skills education materials found on our site.

You can follow us on social media and self-advocate using the hashtag #GiveMeCPR

We are conducting a simple, anonymous survey to better understand how to address disparities and biases in how, why, and to whom CPR is provided. All survey responses will be used solely for research purposes and will be kept confidential. Please fill out the survey here.

Meet Hands2Heart NOLA

Jynx Frederick, MPH&TM(c)

Tulane University

2021-22 Albert Schweitzer Fellow