Recently, Not Dead Yet News and Commentary, posted on May 27, 2021 an Op-Ed written by United Kingdom NDY founder, Baroness Jane Campbell who stated, The Government should be helping people to live– not die through assisted suicide. The National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND), a partner with NDY that stands against Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS), appreciates this Op-Ed, and while NDY has taken the leadership to strongly advocate against PAS, now there is a way for people with disabilities to confront PAS by helping to save lives. 2,781 people with disabilities already have.
Advisor: Basic Life Support Program–
American Heart Association
When the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities was founded in 2003, the big question was how can anyone become a nurse, or remain a nurse if they are unable to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)? NOND worked to resolve this question not only for disabled healthcare professionals but also for all persons with disabilities across the nation that have physical mobility limitations or other chronic health conditions that impact their ability to perform CPR.
NOND’s mission is directed to promoting equity for people with disabilities and chronic health conditions in nursing through education and advocacy. How NOND accomplishes its work occurs in a variety of ways for example, NOND’s collaboration with the American Heart Association to develop the Advisor: Basic Life Support Program.
When nurses apply for a job, employment may be contingent upon the nurse being Basic Life Support (BLS) trained/certified. Some nurses with disabilities have significant physical mobility limitations and are unable to perform all or any of the skills required to perform CPR. Employer exemption, if willing to exempt nurses from this policy, will depend upon the essential functions of the job. Most nursing schools require students to receive CPR training, and have an up-to-date BLS card.
In order to address Employer and nursing school policies, NOND reached out to the American Heart Association (AHA) National Center that provides CPR training across the nation, as well as internationally, and requested AHA to collaborate as a “thought leader” with NOND. NOND Directors believed that collaboration with AHA could result in the development of a new program directed to healthcare professionals and people with disabilities who are unable to perform CPR but could advise someone else on performing CPR while Code Blue Teams or first responders are on the way.
This precedent setting program focuses on the abilities of people with disabilities so that they may direct others to perform CPR. Candidates who pass the online cognitive portion of the HeartCode® BLS Provider Course and successfully advise an instructor on how to perform CPR, and use an automated external defibrillator (AED), can receive an Advisor: BLS card.
It is important to know that nurses and other individuals with different types of disabilities can perform CPR to the required BLS standards. Successful completion of the standard BLS card may be accomplished with or without accommodations. Requests for accommodation if needed should be communicated to the AHA instructor, giving the instructor time to arrange for accommodations for example, request for a sign language interpreter.
The Advisor: BLS Program will be one year old in July 2021. As of April 21, 2021, 2,781 individuals with disabilities have enrolled in the program. It is not known how many employers or nursing schools have accepted the Advisor Card but NOND does know that enrollment has included nurses at some healthcare institutions where the Advisor card is accepted in place of the standard BLS card. It is also known that people with significant disabilities are helping to save lives.
Helpful Information: Links provided by the American Heart Association
- Advisor: BLS Card must be renewed every two years just as the standard BLS card.
- To take the online course go to ShopCPR – American Heart Association CPR & ECC(heart.org). In the top navigation click Courses, then choose BLS to get to the BLS page. Heartcode BLS is on the second page at the bottom. Once the course is successfully completed, find a Training Center.
- To locate an Instructor in your area please go to heart.org/findacourse. This Find a Course link also provides a search feature to locate a Heartcode BLS instructor.
- To obtain more information regarding virtual training. https://cpr.heart.org/en/resources/coronavirus-covid19-resources-for-cpr-training/how-the-aha-is-taking-care-of-the-training-network-and-healthcare-providers.
- Resources that are not related to virtual training https://cpr.heart.org/en/resources/coronavirus-covid19-resources-for-cpr-training,
- You may also visit orgpublic website where free information is available. The BLS course can be located at https://shopcpr.heart.org.
Sincere appreciation is extended to the American Heart Association National Center staff that worked in collaboration with NOND volunteers, Dr. Dawn Dubsky, Dr. Bridgette Jenkins, Shelia Levings, and Karen McCulloh who took the lead in working with AHA in developing the Advisor: Basic Life Support Program.
About the author:
Karen McCulloh, RN, BS, is an RN who has multiple disabilities, including dual sensory impairment (Deaf/Blind), Multiple Sclerosis and has recently become a cancer survivor. She is one of the co-founders of the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities, and has served as president of the organization twice. She is currently serving as the immediate past president and as a member of the NOND Advisory Committee. After becoming visually impaired, Karen left the clinical arena and established her own small business where she developed a new field in nursing, Community Health Disability Education. She moved into workforce development with a focus on Diversity and Inclusion of people with disabilities in the workforce, and is a strong promoter of nursing as a career for academically qualified people with disabilities.