Eagle County Paramedic Services partners with Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival program

Eagle County Paramedic Services this week issued the following press release on its agreement with the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) program:

On July 1, 2022 Eagle County Paramedic Services (ECPS) entered into an agreement with the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) program to act as the fiscal agent until the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) allocates this role. The signing of HB22-1251 established the Office of Cardiac Arrest Management and went into effect on July 1, 2022; the office is projected to be staffed and functioning in fall 2022. 

In 2016, Eagle County Paramedic Services formally enrolled in the CARES program to collect and compile quantitative data on the number of Sudden Cardiac Arrest victims and measure improvement and outcomes. 

“CARES data is now being compiled in Eagle County and statewide so that we can quantify the efficacy of our programs in comparison with national results,” said Will Dunn, chief clinical officer at ECPS. “Eagle County Paramedic Services is passionate about out-of-hospital cardiac arrest care and supporting the CARES program as a statewide initiative.” 

Under this relationship, ECPS will work with CARES Coordinator Jillian Moore to continue to successfully grow and monitor the program until CDPHE establishes the Office of Cardiac Arrest Management. Goals include expanding the program across the state, developing a system improvement program and creating a transition plan for CDPHE. ECPS will assist CARES in preparing an outreach campaign to raise public awareness and maintaining a list of training and education programs offered in Colorado to teach life-saving skills. 

“Remarkably, this relationship has come full circle,” said Lynn Blake, a sudden cardiac arrest survivor and Board Member of the Eagle County Paramedic Services. “Seven years ago, I asked ECPS to implement the CARES registry in Eagle County. I offered to pay the registration fee if they would enter cases into the registry. They agreed, remained supportive and have contributed data ever since. Eagle County proved to have higher than average survival rates year over year. When the statewide project needed temporary oversight, ECPS immediately offered to assist. It’s meaningful to begin and end this journey with ECPS. From saving my life on Feb 14, 2007, supporting the CARES project and contributing to the many more lives saved from assisting with statewide expansion, I am eternally grateful to ECPS for all they do to save lives.”

Once CDPHE assumes responsibility for CARES, ECPS will continue to compile data on out-of-hospital cardiac arrest to continue achieving their mission of providing skilled, professional and compassionate healthcare to the community.

“The CARES program is one of the greatest opportunities that we have in emergency medicine to accrue real-time data to improve quality of treatments and save lives,” said Brandon Daruna, CEO of Eagle County Paramedic Services. “We are proud to serve as the fiscal agent for CARES and provide support to this truly life-changing program.” 

Colorado overall SCA survival (from onset to hospital discharge) in 2021 was 12.3%, ranking the state fifth in the nation and CARES captured 3,727 SCA cases in Colorado. Colorado EMS participation increased by 40.3% since 2019; as of 2021, there is now 100% hospital participation in the state.