The 2018 American Heart Association’s Resuscitation Science Symposium determined that women are 27 percent less likely to receive CPR from a bystander because of the misconception that breasts make it more challenging and worries about inappropriate touching in the #MeToo era.
The good news is that technology has caught up! We are happy to introduce you to the Womanikin! Yes they are putting boobs on CPR mannequins! Studies have shown that men are more likely to receive life-saving intervention than women since they are flat chested.
By having a variety of mannequins that differentiate between genders gives students a chance to practice different scenarios. CPR is traditionally taught on flat-chested dummies, people don’t know how to handle women in dire circumstances: Is it inappropriate to touch their breasts? Does it count as sexual assault?
It is important to realize that CPR is lifesaving and should be rendered to collapsed individuals regardless of gender, race or ethnicity says lead study author Dr. Sarah M. Perman, assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado. The Womanikin website provides female-specific instructions on how to give CPR: Yes, this will mean you are touching her left breast. Don’t worry. You might save her life.
The Womanikin team’s goal is to close the gender gap by encouraging the public to go tit for tat when helping those who collapse in public. The product is a fabric sleeve with breasts that slips over traditional flat-chested CPR mannequins. In a three-way partnership among the United State of Women, NYC-based ad agency Joan Creative and Frontline Health, the Womanikin team wants its product in use by every CPR training school in the country.
The Womanikin design is now available for download in a free Builder Toolkit, for anyone who wants to create their own.
~ Roxy RDH
References:
https://nypost.com/2019/06/06/cpr-mannequins-are-getting-breasts-to-save-womens-lives/
https://newsroom.heart.org/news/two-novel-studies-explore-why-women-receive-less-cpr-from-bystanders