From Lifeguard to Lifesaver

In the realm of lifesaving endeavours, the Citizen CPR Foundation recognises 40 outstanding individuals under the age of 40 who have made a meaningful impact on sudden cardiac arrest outcomes. Among this year’s outstanding nominees is Kenneth See, a 33-year-old advocate whose humility shines as he accepts the honour. Although the award is bestowed upon him, Kenneth attributes the recognition to his dedicated team and emphasises, “ I am receiving it on behalf of them and it (the work) is none of me.”

Thanks to the hard work of Kenneth and his team, they have garnered acclaim; they earned the Minister for Home Affairs National Day Award (HT Partners) 2021 and the SGSecure Responders’ and Partners’ Appreciation Award in 2022. These accolades, as Kenneth shares, serve as a testament to the work they have dedicated to the lifesaving space.

During his polytechnic days, Kenneth worked as a lifeguard that allowed him to put lifesaving skills to practise. This passion guided him to join the Singapore Heart Foundation (SHF), where he currently serves as the Deputy Manager of the Heart Safe team. In this role, Kenneth oversees the team’s operations in the areas of trainings, outreach, and the Save-A-Life initiative.

In his day-to-day, Kenneth leads the Save-A-Life (SAL) initiative, a collaboration with the SCDF where the SAL team checks the publicly accessible AEDs diligently, even those on Coney Island and Pulau Ubin, and ensures the AEDs are functioning well. Additionally, the team maintains and updates the myResponder app by registering and mapping the AEDs. A similar crowdsourcing app the SAL run is the AED-on-Wheels programme. AEDs are installed in taxis and private-hire vehicles, allowing drivers to respond to emergencies and deliver an AED when they are alerted on the myResponder app.

Immediate CPR+AED plays a critical role in OHCA, boosting survival rates up to 90%. Yet, there are challenges in the adoption of CPR+AED skills. One of which, is the misconception that relying solelyon emergency services for rescue is sufficient.To surmount these barriers, the SHF offers affordable and time-efficient CPR+AED courses. Kenneth and his team additionally organise community events such as Project Heart, an annual mass training event that provides free CPR+AED certification course to the public.

Kenneth acknowledges that “there is still a lot of work that needs to be done”, and an example is the CPR self-learning kiosk. Launched in 2018, the kiosk allows individuals to learn hands-only CPR with the prompt of instructional videos. The kiosk offers real-time feedback, employing Singlish voice prompts and a dynamic bar graph meter to instruct users and provide immediate guidance on the precise depth and rate of CPR. Kenneth believes that creating new technology-driven tools could improve CPR+AED proficiency and, ultimately, saving more lives.

Community support for the development of lifesaving tools and programmes define the health of OHCA survival rates and Kenneth aspires to collaborate with like-minded partners and organisations to turn every person on the street into a potential lifesaver.

At this year’s 2023 Cardiac Arrest Survival Summit, the Citizen CPR Foundation honoured 40 heart heroes who are under the age of 40 who are dedicated to strengthening the future of sudden cardiac arrest training, response and survival. This recognition programme helps create a strong community of engaged individuals focused on continuing to challenge the status quo and make an impact in sudden cardiac arrest. Click here for more details and watch the video below.