CCPR

The Project

Less than 1/3 of people who get sudden cardiac arrest receive CPR, which, according to the AMA, can double or triple a victim’s chance of surviving. Traditional mouth-to-mouth CPR is complex, involving clearing a victim’s airway, giving chest compressions, and mouth-to-mouth breaths. This version of CPR can be hard to teach to high school students and children, as many are intimidated by the procedure’s complexity or might feel uncomfortable with the idea of “kissing” a stranger. However, waiting for an ambulance and standing around also means precious minutes when the victim’s brain and organs are losing oxygen. So, we found a simpler alternative: hands-only CPR, which requires only hand compressions. To make hands-on CPR accessible for students of all ages, we used Scratch to create a program that simulates the process and teaches it in an easy-to-understand language. We used animation to show how to compress to the beat of Stayin' Alive (100 bpm). In addition to the Scratch game, we have made an interactive wooden button that simulates the pressure needed to be applied to a person's chest during hand compressions. As a person presses down on the button, the Scratch program is signaled to show an animation of a person's chest being compressed. We were able to accomplish this by using a Makey Makey kit and alligator clips. CCPR is made for kids by kids. In the future, we hope to expand on this product to make it more UI/UX friendly.

View this project in Scratch

Team Comments

Less than 1/3 of people who have sudden cardiac arrest get CPR, which can double a victim’s chance of surviving. Traditional mouth-to-mouth CPR is complex and has many steps. Alternatively, hands-only CPR only requires hand compressions. So, we made CCPR, an accessible Scratch game, to teach kids.

We wanted to have an interactive wooden button that mimics the pressure needed on a person’s chest during CPR. We learned how to use Makey Makeys and Scratch to show an animation of a chest being compressed when the button is pushed down all the way. See – “How to set up my button?” on the game.

Our project is very much a first draft. We would have made our app more appealing to users as our product would be targeted toward children. To do this, we would have better animation. To make our button cheaper and more accessible, we would use a durable plastic and a thinner metal spring.