A heart attack can happen anywhere—at home, on the street, or at a sports field. When the heart stops, one cannot wait for an ambulance to arrive. This is why Dr. Sivaranjani conducts training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
The importance of CPR lies in the fact that with every minute without resuscitation, the chance of survival decreases by approximately 10%, whereas immediate CPR can double or even triple the chances of saving a life.
However, most people do not know how to act in such a situation. According to data, the level of citizen participation in providing first aid during cardiac arrest in India is only between 1.3% and 9.8%. Due to this, Dr. Sivaranjani decided to conduct training seminars.
She began conducting free master classes on CPR, first aid, and choking relief for teachers, parents, students, police officers, ASHA workers, corporate employees, and hospital staff. After training more than 25,000 people, the program is expanding beyond the classroom.
A month after her seminar, Ankita Rao's husband survived a heart attack. She called an ambulance and then did what she learned: she started performing CPR, and he survived.
Another participant found their baby unconscious and not breathing. They did not panic and started performing CPR. After 31 attempts, the child began to breathe again.
Dr. Sivaranjani aims for every person trained by her to be able to train someone else, stating: 'I have not stopped training. I am creating an army.' Parents have started donating CPR mannequins; nearly 40 have been donated so far.
Twenty-two mannequins are now located in 22 medical colleges across Telangana. Through the Goodwill Foundation, this network is expanding to Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, and Punjab.
Sivaranjani sees potential in exponential growth: one person learns CPR, then trains ten, and those ten train one hundred. This is the 'army' she is building, because the more people who know CPR, the more people can act when lives are in danger.