A Burnaby nurse has teamed up with a teen to spread the word about the risks associate with cardiac arrest.
Serena Kutchner is a RN at St. Paul's Hospital and a resident of Burnaby. She has linked up with Alaana Shamji, a Grade 12 student enrolled at Stratford Hall school in Vancouver to provide educational sessions on cardiac arrest.
So far, the sessions have been presented to the Ismaili community and Grade 5 and 7 students at Stratford Hall.
The two met through Dr. Santabhanu Chakrabarti, a cardiologist and one of the board of directors at Hearts of B.C.
“I wanted her out there and spread the word about raising awareness about cardiac health. She's [Shamji] actually my motivator,” said Kutchner
The future plans for the education sessions will soon be available outside of the classrooms of Stratford Hall.
“People of all ages can have cardiac arrest at any point, and survival is minimal unless someone can assist with CPR,” said Kutchner.
The first talk initially was on Zoom with 70 people from the area’s Ismaili community, which took place back in the fall of last year.
“In this project, I wanted to target the seniors’ community as well, so I built quite strong connections to my Ismaili community,” said Shamji. “I was shocked when I learned that there's a higher chance of mortality from cardiac arrest amongst South Asians compared to the average population. South Asians are more likely to have coronary artery disease up to 10 years earlier than others.”
Shamji is eyeing a career in the medical field.
“I've always wanted to pursue a career in medicine, specifically, the field of cardiology interests me,” she said. “So I thought that this project that was directly linked to that human body system would be a great opportunity for me to engage in something that I'm interested in, but also pursue my passion of, you know, raising awareness and creating change within my community.”
