Seiden has launched a new CPR initiative for New York Presbyterian Hospital called “Songs to Save a Life to.” Inspired by the story of Michael Kiernan (see above) and the frightening statistic that “89 percent of people who experience cardiac arrest at home, at work or in public die because they don’t receive immediate treatment,” the campaign aims to dispel the idea that only trained medical professionals can save lives.
The “Songs to Save a Life to” site teaches you how to perform hands-only CPR, a procedure that can “double or even triple a victim’s chance of survival.” Since the procedure calls for 100 chest compressions per minute and most people have no idea what 100 beats per minute is, Seiden came up with the ingenious idea of creating a Spotify playlist called “Songs to Save a Life to,” comprised entirely of songs that are 100 BPM. Even if you can’t get to the Spotify playlist during an emergency situation, the playlist should still be helpful: just take a minute to peruse the list and pick a song you know by heart to use if you ever need to perform CPR. It just may save somebody’s life someday.
The playlist contains such CPR-appropriate songs as “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees (the classic example of 100BPM used to teach CPR) and Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” — although we have to wonder about the inclusion of Queen’s classic “Another One Bites The Dust.” It’s a great tool for those of us who aren’t EMT trained, although you should keep in mind that if you save someone’s life and the first thing they here when they come to is Hanson’s “MMMBop,” they may wish they (or you) were dead. Stick around for an official 2012 hands-only CPR instructional video after the jump.