What is the Minnesota Sudden Cardiac Arrest Campaign?
What specifically are the goals of the campaign?
Why Minnesota?
Who Does the Campaign Target?
How Will You Know if the Campaign is a Success?
Can I Get the Campaign Materials?
How is the Campaign Funded?
What is the Heart Rhythm Foundation?

What is the Minnesota Sudden Cardiac Arrest Campaign?
An estimated 325,000 people in the United States including 5,000 Minnesotans will die from Sudden Cardiac Arrest each year. For Minnesota that is more deaths due to SCA than house fires, prostate cancer, breast cancer and automobile accidents combined. SCA kills nearly 1,000 people a day or one person every two minutes. But it doesn’t have to. SCA can be prevented if people know they are at risk.

To raise public awareness for this important health problem, The Heart Rhythm Foundation is launching It’s About Time with support from Minnesota’s healthcare providers. The campaign launches in March 2005 in Minnesota before it rolls out nationally. We hope to enlist your help in the effort.

The It’s About Time campaign is designed to increase awareness of SCA and to encourage those at risk to seek appropriate treatment. The execution of the campaign revolves around a concerted effort to get those at risk to participate in a screening program. The screening tool is a SCA risk assessment and it will be highly publicized and all completed questionnaires will be assessed and feedback will be provided to the respondent. Those who may be, or are, at risk for SCA will be instructed to see their primary care physician (PCP). All Minnesota provider organizations are invited to participate.

What, specifically, are the goals of the campaign?

• Educate the public about SCA
• Open the lines of communication between doctor and patient to encourage dialogue about SCA
• Identify those who are at risk for SCA and urge those at risk to be screened and seek the proper treatment

Risk identification: In an effort to identify high-risk patients, a risk assessment survey will be distributed that asks individuals to respond to a brief set of questions related to their heart history and offers a scored assessment in return. Patients at risk are encouraged to contact their primary care physician for further evaluation.

Education: As a part of the Its About Time campaign, the Heart Rhythm Foundation will work with professional medical organizations to offer educational materials to healthcare providers and their patients. Physician resources that include SCA fact sheets, talking points, grab-and-go slides and patient brochures will be available at no cost to healthcare providers.

Why Minnesota?
The Foundation’s Executive Committee chose Minnesota as the pilot site to test the feasibility of a nationwide Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Campaign. The state was selected because the Foundation has many strong pre-existing relationships in Minnesota. The Foundation can combine its access to a robust network of physicians and industry leaders to fully leverage our efforts throughout the state. This includes nearly 120 Heart Rhythm Society members that practice and work all over the state. These members include the current President of the Society’s Board of Trustees Dr. Stephen Hammill who is the Director of Electrophysiology and ECGs at the Mayo Clinic. Additionally it includes the Chairman of the Heart Rhythm Foundation - Dr. Robert Hauser, who is President of the Cardiovascular Services Division at the Minneapolis Heart Institute/Abbott Northwestern Hospital. Stanley S. Hubbard, another important member of the Foundation’s Board, is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. He has committed the resources of his media operations to this pilot.

To further strengthen our physician outreach, the Foundation is partnering with the Minnesota Chapters of the American College of Cardiology.  Other Minnesota professional organizations are lending their support as well.

Who Does the Campaign Target?
The primary audience for the campaign comprises those who have had heart attack or cardiac arrest or have had heart failure. Family members and women in particular, also play a significant role in driving family decisions about health and are included in an effort to persuade the at-risk audience to take the SCA risk-assessment survey.

Critical to the Heart Rhythm Foundation’s success is “preparing” and educating the medical professionals about the risk factors and treatment options for sudden cardiac death. After taking the risk assessment survey, the public is encouraged to seek out their healthcare providers for more information on SCA and/or further evaluation. Reaching out to health care providers to ensure at-risk patients find a receptive audience is imperative to the campaign’s success.

How Will You Know if the Campaign is a Success?
The campaign will be closely monitored and evaluated. This pilot is an important learning opportunity before the campaign rolls out on a national level. We will:

• Track PSAs and media story placement to determine volume of coverage.
• Monitor traffic to campaign website and 800 number to track volume of response, and document how they became aware of the campaign.
• Track the number of individuals who completed the screening questionnaire and the percentage who were found to be at risk.
• Track number of PCP’s who became aware of the campaign and their change in behavior.
• Work with area healthcare organizations to monitor the increase in patient traffic and source of referral.

Can I Get the Campaign Materials?
Yes! Anyone can download the patient materials on this site.

Additional materials have been created specifically for healthcare providers, professional healthcare organizations and employers.

How is the Campaign Funded?
The Foundation expresses appreciation to the following organization who provided unrestricted grants to support the campaign.

• GlaxoSmithKline
• Guidant Foundation
• Medtronic, Inc.
• St. Jude Medical, Inc.