HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA

Hilton Head’s year-round population is about 40,000. However, many retirees have second homes on Hilton Head Island, and they receive about 2.5 million visitors a year. Hilton Head Island Fire Rescue has long advocated for the RA’s core principles and are committed to “measure and improve” cardiac arrest outcomes. They were the first municipality in South Carolina to join CARES. Hilton Head Island boasts a rolling 5-year neuro-intact survival rate for witnessed, shockable cardiac arrest of 55%. They recently implemented RQI-T to perfect their T-CPR performance.

Hilton Head’s journey started after reading “Six Minutes to Live or Die” by Bob Davis in USA Today. After the Miracle on the Hudson, they made it their goal to save 150 lives in 25 years. Each patient who survives witnessed, shockable cardiac arrest gets added to a Boeing 737 that hangs in the Fire Rescue headquarters lobby.

Hilton Head Island Fire Rescue also regularly connects cardiac arrest survivors with the bystanders, EMTs, and paramedics who saved their lives.

We are proud of our HP-CPR performance. We do it exactly as we learned at the Seattle/King County RA. Our routine performance is excellent rate, depth, and recoil with CPR fraction time > 80%.

- Battalion Chief of EMS Tom Bouthillet