ACCESS Health China led a group of students from the Bright Start Project to visit the First Respond Shanghai office on June 28, 2017. The Chief Operations Officer of First Respond Robin Jun Lu, delivered a lecture to the students on the topic of pre hospital care.
Mr. Lu described the severe challenge of pre hospital care in China. He explained that the main cause were a shortage of first aid infrastructure, a shortage of first aid knowledge and awareness, and also a shortage of social support to protect lifesavers who are not trained as doctors. For example, the survival rate for heart attacks in major cities in China is less than three percent and ownership of automated external defibrillators is extremely low. Mr. Lu described First Respond’s vision of promoting “mutual aid” as a new Chinese social norm. First Respond uses multiple channels and methods to empower individuals and businesses with the right knowledge and skills to practice first aid, including training, community building, online platform, and mobile applications.
Students learned basic first aid knowledge and skills themselves, including respiratory tract blocking and adult cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Students practiced their new skills on models. The site visit created a deeper connection between students and First Respond gave students a chance to learn how a digital health company operates. More importantly, the visit not lonely increased students’ awareness of the social challenges we face in China and the motivation and encouragement to find solutions.
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About First Respond:
Headquartered in Shanghai Gongyi Xintiandi, a former historical site renovated into social innovation park in Huangpu District, First Respond 第一反?”® is a leading Chinese social enterprise dedicated to delivering exceptional quality first aid training, services, and solutions to businesses and individuals in China. It is also an American Heart Association authorized training site and currently, has two training centers located in Shanghai and Beijing. It aims to create social impacts by offering services and solutions to increase public’s awareness of safety issues in China and promote the idea of “mutual aid” as the new Chinese social norm. By the end of 2016, First Respond had trained over ninety thousand adults and kids, covered around two hundred events with seventy nine thousand runners. It successfully saved eleven cases of cardiac arrest with one hundred percent survival rate.