Background

The Citizen CPR Foundation was founded in 1987 as a non-profit organization to serve as a home and planning host for a biennial conference on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Since its inception, the mission of the Foundation has been "to strengthen the Chain of Survival." The Foundation has four primary co-sponsors: the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and Industry partners.

Mission

In March 2009, the Board of Directors of the CCPRF gathered in Chicago to evaluate the core mission and develop a new strategic plan for the Foundation. The Board sought to enhance CCPRF’s ability to meet the needs of ECC, Citizen CPR, and promotion of the chain of survival.

This exciting strategic planning session began with identification of three core values for the Citizen CPR Foundation:

• CPR saves lives;
• Collaboration among citizens, communities, and organizations is key to survival from sudden death; and
• Action based on best practices in science, education, and implementation, improves outcomes

From these three values, the Board created an enhanced mission statement:
The mission of the Citizen CPR Foundation is to save lives from sudden death by stimulating citizen and community action.

In support of the enhanced mission, the CCPRF identified three key strategic directions for the CCPRF 2009 – 2015 which are:

1. Expand / Foster partnerships: through creating a Community Response Alliance which will build on existing partnerships and the formation of new ones with organizations with shared mission and values.
2. Transform Knowledge into Coordinated Action: through unique methods of knowledge dissemination, and the ECCU conference; and
3. Increase Lay Rescuer Learning and Action: through new ways to reach bystanders, simplifying bystander action, and promoting enthusiasm for learning CPR.

The Citizen CPR Foundation and the ECCU conference will continue to promote best practices in science as well as innovative, effective methods for CPR/AED education.  We are equally excited to expand our mission to promote transformation of these best practices into action throughout our communities.  Accordingly, the ECCU conference will identify aspects of each link in the chain of survival that define its quality, how communities can strengthen each link, and how communities can forge a strong relationship between each link to provide a consistently efficient, timely, and coordinated sequence of interventions for patients with cardiac arrest by optimizing local leadership and community stakeholder collaboration.

ECCU Conference

Since its inception in 1987, a major activity of the CCPRF is the organization of the Emergency Cardiac Care Update (ECCU) Conference every 2 years. The purpose of the conference is to present the latest science behind CPR guidelines and provide an inspirational forum for CPR instructors to share their experiences, insights and vision. The ECCU Conference is the only event of its kind, bringing together highly motivated CPR Instructors, nurses, physicians, researchers, EMTs, paramedics and others involved in the instruction and practice of resuscitation as well as in research and program administration.  The conference provides a dynamic and unique opportunity for resuscitation professionals, educators and community champions to learn and connect in one place with the entire spectrum of the ECCU profession.

ECCU is often held in conjunction with the release of the International Consensus on Science and Treatment Recommendations (CoSTR) for CPR and ECC from the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR).

Conferences in the off-guideline years focus on a dynamic forum for exchange of information, ideas, innovations, developments, issues surrounding execution of guidelines, and trends aimed at advancing the implementation of citizen CPR and ECC training.

ECCU 2014 will be held June 2-6, 2014 in the beautiful Paris Las Vegas Hotel.

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