What do overdoses and sudden cardiac arrest have in common? In short, a lot. Both are major causes of death in the United States, both require immediate intervention to save the life of the patient and most importantly: in both cases bystander medical action can greatly increase the chance of survival of those impacted. Here is a snapshot of these cases and resources for how you can prepare to help.

Overall rate of intervention:

Cardiac Arrest:

Where they occur

How lives are saved.
With such a low survival rate, what can be done?

How to get trained:

Trying to map out all the places to get CPR and AED trained in just Chicago is impossible because there are so many places offering this training. ( I tried and my computer could not scrape so much data). Instead, here are links to the American Heart Association and the Red Cross

Overdoses

In 2021, the United States saw 106,000 overdose deaths according to the National Institute of Health. While data on bystander intervention in  overdoses isn't as developed as cardiac arrest, one method of reducing opioid overdose deaths has been Naloxone or as it's commonly known. 

In the City of Chicago, Naloxone can be found at any public library for free with no questions asked. Here is a showing library locations in the city of Chicago.

Social justice statement: Emergency medicine is rooted in social justice. From Peter Safar and the Freedom House Ambulance to the modern community based approach to medicine, emergency medicine's civilian past has always been a matter of serving others and preserving life. While there may be plenty of issues that lead cardiac and overdoses that can't by these tools, preserving life ought be the first priority. Saving a life gives the person the chance to benefit from other social justice movements and allows them to hopefully participate themselves. At the end of the day, we should desire to help our fellow human. Giving them the chance to keep living is the most basic responsibility we have.