Orange Grove Center's outdated CPR dummies were destined for the dumpster until Dr. Rick Rader decided their work teaching the importance of heart health wasn't over.
Each year, 475,000 people in the United States die from cardiac arrest - the medical term for when someone's heart abruptly stops beating - according to the American Heart Association.
CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is an emergency lifesaving procedure that can double or triple survival odds if performed immediately after cardiac arrest.
"It's something that can save lives," said Rader, director of habilitation at Orange Grove, a Chattanooga-based nonprofit organization serving adults and children with intellectual disabilities.
All Orange Grove staff are required to maintain CPR certification, which is why the center has a supply of training dummies.
"We actually have a standing award called the 'life saving award,' which we give as an award in recognition to those direct care staff that have saved people's lives using CPR over the past year. So it's very, very important that we not only know CPR, but basically promote its use," Rader said.
In 2020, two Orange Grove staffers received the award.
However, the dummies must be replaced after repeated use or whenever the American Heart Association changes the standards for a certified CPR dummy. When it came time to get new dummies, Rader hated to think of the old ones winding up in a landfill and instead had the idea to repurpose them.
Each department at Orange Grove was given a dummy along with creative license to decorate them as they please.
The refurbished dummies were then placed on display in the Orange Grove lobby along with pamphlets and brochures about healthy heart habits, such as nutrition, exercise and the importance of regular checkups. The display is called the Orange Grove Center "Heart to Art" project.
"The purpose was basically to serve as a reminder of how important learning CPR is, and in addition to that, learning the basics of good, healthy heart care," Rader said. "For the time being, this is a permanent display at Orange Grove, and it serves to remind the staff and visitors that we are CPR fluent and ready."
Rader said he is working to promote the idea in hopes it will take off and other organizations and companies across Chattanooga and beyond will want to contribute used dummies to the display or be inspired to create their own dummy art project.
"We hope that this will become a national program for centers all over the country and hopefully by the American Heart Association," he said. "It's also our way of saying 'thank you for your service,' to the CPR dummies."
Contact Elizabeth Fite at efite@timesfreepress.com or follow her on Twitter @ecfite.