Empowering a Nation to Act When Heartbeat Stops

Some careers begin with a clear plan. Lin Zicheng’s began with a simple, practical question: “What happens if someone collapses in front of you?”

That question has shaped more than a decade of work in sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) preparedness and earned him recognition as a Citizen CPR Foundation 40 Under 40 awardee in 2025—an honour that recognises sustained, measurable impact on cardiac arrest survival.

From Assignment to Calling

Zicheng’s journey started in 2014 during a contract role with a government statutory board. He oversaw AED installations, organised community CPR and AED outreach, supported grant applications, and advised grassroots leaders on emergency preparedness. The experience shaped his core belief: systems must be ready before emergencies happen.

In 2018, he joined the Singapore Heart Foundation (SHF), where he became deeply involved in growing the Save-A-Life Initiative, a national collaboration with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF). What began as an operational role soon became a personal mission.

Making sure more lives can be saved during a sudden cardiac arrest became more than just work—it became a calling.

Save-A-Life: Work Beyond the App

The Save-A-Life Initiative is best known for the myResponder app, which alerts Community First Responders (CFRs), connects to 995 operations, and helps locate nearby AEDs. Behind it lies years of operational groundwork.

Between 2018 and 2022, Zicheng personally checked over 3,000 AEDs annually, ensuring accurate registration, clear access information and device readiness. He also advised organisations on effective AED placement.

By end-2022, his role expanded to overseeing operations for the entire Save-A-Life team, maintaining the functional status of more than 12,000 AEDs nationwide.

Turning Volunteers into a Community

Recognising that technology alone does not sustain response, Zicheng piloted the Community First Responders Club. The initiative provides CFRs with peer support and learning opportunities.

Activities ranged from sharing sessions to community walks linked to AED Hunt campaigns. Built without a formal template, the club grew through trust, listening and shared experience—strengthening responder resilience and retention.

From Training to Action

After attending the Cardiac Arrest Survival Summit (CASSummit) 2023, Zicheng identified a critical gap: knowing CPR is not the same as acting immediately.

Drawing inspiration from Project ADAM, he piloted the Cardiac Life Emergency Action Response (CLEAR) initiative. CLEAR focuses on drills, role clarity and rehearsed response within organisations. Early trials showed up to a 40% reduction in time from collapse to first shock.

Project Heart 2023: Restarting at Scale

As project lead for Project Heart 2023, SHF’s mass CPR+AED Certification Training event, Zicheng helped restart the large-scale public training post-pandemic.

Key outcomes included:

• 3,200 participants trained ahead of the event
• 1,000 participants certified on the event day
• 34 life-savers recognised by survivors

About 80% of participants were students and educators from 13 schools, reinforcing early and sustained preparedness.

Measurable Impact

National OHCA data reflects the broader impact of community-centred preparedness:

• Bystander CPR rates increased from 22.0% (2011) to 59.4% (2021)
• Bystander AED use rose from 1.8% to 9.5%
• Survival with good neurological outcomes improved from 52.1% to 79.3%

Zicheng does not attribute these gains to any single individual. His focus remains on building systems, empowering people and ensuring readiness.

Beyond operations, he has been a certified BCLS+AED instructor since 2022 and continues to serve as an active CFR.

Conclusion

Zicheng’s work reflects a disciplined approach to life-saving—quiet, consistent and grounded in execution. From checking AEDs to shaping national response systems, he has focused on one outcome: ensuring people know what to do, and do it quickly, when it matters most.

His recognition as a 40 Under 40 awardee is not just a personal milestone, but a reflection of how sustained commitment, operational rigor and community trust can translate into lives saved across a nation.

Watch Zicheng at work: