Yesterday Annmargreth and I participated as guest speakers at ZOLL Accreditation Program Summit in Helsinki with participants primarily from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). Our topic was surviving cardiac arrest- Every day is a gift!
We told our personally story about my cardiac arrest, the rehabilitation process, and the transition to a new life—as well as what we have learned in the years since my cardiac arrest and what we believe still needs to be done.
We participated in a similar meeting three years ago in Copenhagen, and on this occasion, we outlined the improvements that have taken place in the field of cardiac safety in Sweden since that 2023 meeting.
We also spoke about the importance of building networks for cardiac arrest survivors and their loved ones, so that they can share their stories and support one another.
Annmargreth told: ”When Stefan suffered his cardiac arrest in 2017, I had virtually no information available to me—no network I could turn to, to ask how others had experienced the same situation. That was something I really missed at the time”.
At 2020, we started a Facebook group, Swedish network for cardiac arrest survivors and their relatives. In the beginning, we were a few survivors and relatives who, together with the Swedish Resuscitation council and the Swedish Heart and Lung Association, founded the network.
At the meeting 2023 in Copenhagen, we were 300 members in our Swedish network.Today we are more than 800 members and we are getting more every week.
Nowadays, the request to join the network can come just a week after the person got a cardiac arrest, and it feels very meaningful to be able to share experiences and to be able to support each other. In the network, it has become clear that there are shortcomings in the care of relatives. Of course, all the focus easily falls on the survivor, but next to the survivor there are always relatives, who are also hit hard and who need better attention. Here, too, our network can contribute to providing support to each other and to exchanging experiences.
There is currently significant interest in establishing similar networks for cardiac arrest survivors and co-survivors around the world—a topic recently highlighted at the ERC Congress last September in Milan. Such networks have long existed in the UK and the US. And in Sweden, our network has been active for six years.
We also highlighted a few of the success factors we have identified that are particularly important—both for increasing survival rates following cardiac arrest and for improving life after cardiac arrest for survivors and their loved ones.
- Build collaboration with other organisations. Many lives could be saved, which is why all positive forces need to work together. Our collaboration with these organisations has enabled us to communicate our message much more effectively.
- Listen to survivors and their loved ones. There is so much power in the stories of those who have survived a cardiac arrest—and it is perhaps even more important to listen to the experiences of their loved ones.
Feel free to view our full PowerPoint presentation here. It also contains links to various references that may be useful.
Many thanks to ZOLL for the invitation to give a guest lecture, as well as for the warm applause and many excellent questions. Together, we can help ensure that many more people have the same opportunity I did—to be brought back to life, and not just survive, but to live life to the fullest.
