b'CELEBRATING TWO DECADES OF IMPACT20 YEARS OF CARESThe Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival celebrates its 20th anniversary by entering a new phaseCARES 2.0. Thanks toWe want people to see CARES not just a nearly $24 million grant from the Centersas a registry that you enter data into for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),only to obtain reports, but as a quality CARES will expand to all 50 states andimprovement program. make much-needed technological updatesOur goal is to encourage communities and advancements to ensure faster andto move beyond measurement and take more streamlined data collection, analysis,the next step in enhancing care.and dissemination. And, perhaps most importantly, it will sharpen its focus onDr. Bryan McNallyimproving out-of-hospital cardiac arrestExecutive Director of CARES(OHCA) outcomes.The Birth of a RegistryLaunched in 2004, CARES was created to fill a dangerous gap in the understanding of OHCAa condition that affects approximately 350,000 people in the U.S. annually, with survival rates lingering around just 10%. Immediate intervention is crucialbystander CPR can nearly double survival rates, and public access defibrillation results in an almost 50% survival rate for patients with a shockable rhythm. Despite the deadliness of OHCA and the importance of bystander interventions, before CARES, there was no registry that could draw and link information from three silos911 dispatch centers, EMS providers, and receiving hospitals. Prior to CARES, most communities had no understanding of what happens to patients that experienced an OHCA, making it impossible to understand how the EMS system is performing or how to improve, says Dr. Bryan McNally, Executive Director of CARES. If you dont have data, you dont know where you are or where you are going. Its akin to flying a plane blindfolded.To remove this blindfold, the CDC and Emory Universitys Department of Emergency Medicine established CARES, creating the first national registry to link those three silos of data into a single record for each OHCA case. The program initially operated with grant funding before transitioning to private funding, largely from user fees and philanthropic support. Emory University, Georgia(Kay Hinton/Emory Photo Video) In 2005, Atlanta was the first community to collect data, capturing nearly 600 cases. The database grew steadily through the years as more communities recognized the value of comparing patient populations, interventions, and outcomes to improve OHCA care. Today, CARES covers 186 million people, representing 20 56% of the U.S. population, and continues to transform how communities respond to sudden cardiac arrest.'