As Naperville Central High School student Ashlynn Goldstein prepared to enter her senior year capstone course, she wanted to focus on gender disparities in the health care industry.
The topic was important to Ashlynn, 18, who works in an assisted living facility and is planning to study nursing at St. Louis University after graduation.
She found it especially alarming that women were statistically less likely to receive bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, than men when experiencing a medical emergency.
“When someone goes into cardiac arrest, every second matters,” Ashlynn said. “If someone even hesitates for just a few seconds, it can mean life or death.”
Various studies state that a woman could be up to 25% less likely than a man to be given CPR when experiencing a cardiac arrest in public, Ashlynn said. As a result, men have higher odds of survival than women.
It could be for several reasons, Ashlynn said.
Sometimes bystanders are concerned they will be accused of inappropriate touching or sexual advances if they do chest compressions on a woman. They are also hesitant if clothing has to be removed to perform CPR or to use an automated external defibrillator, or AED.
That hesitation and lack of confidence for a CPR-certified bystander to step in and help in a medical event can lead to worse outcomes for women, she said.
So Ashlynn decided to take action.
Ashlynn, who has taken CPR courses multiple times, realized that many people who are CPR-certified have only practiced chest compressions on a male manikin. That could be part of the reason bystanders aren’t confident to help when a woman is having an emergency, she said.
“I realized I’ve never seen a female manikin before,” she said.
Normalizing practicing CPR compressions with an anatomically accurate female torso could be one step to help save the lives of women experiencing cardiac arrest, she said.
As part of her capstone course, Ashlynn worked with state Rep. Maura Hirschauer, D-Batavia, who is sponsoring House Bill 4788, which would amend the school code to include a minimum of one female manikin for every two male manikins in high school CPR classes, starting in the 2028-29 school year.
The bill, which also includes state Rep. Janet Yang Rohr, D-Naperville, as a co-sponsor, is pending in the House’s Education Policy Committee.
Ashlynn said she understands that school districts may not want to spend the funds for additional manikins and she doesn’t want to burden schools with another expense. She suggested they can either buy or make a female cover to go on top of their existing male manikins as a cost-saving measure.
“This capstone class for me has opened that door to making my voice feel heard,” she said. “I really feel like when I put my mind to something, I can make a difference. Even if this bill doesn’t pass, it started a conversation that people weren’t really talking about before. That’s a step in the right direction.”
Naperville Central Principal Jackie Thornton said the capstone course and Ashlynn’s experience offer a chance to see advocacy in action.
On Wednesday, WorldPoint, which manufactures and distributes an interchangeable male and female CPR torso, donated eight manikins to Naperville Central High School.
The female-presenting manikins have only been around for a couple of years, said Shelly Amato, the company’s executive vice president. Unfortunately, the industry seems to find the current male torsos sufficient, she said.
The company spent time refining the CPR manikin so that it has a removable female cover that would accurately reflect how a woman’s breasts would be when someone was performing chest compressions, Amato said. The company also wanted to ensure the manikins were versatile so students could practice CPR on both a child and adult, and the manikins come in a variety of skin tones as well.
Naperville Central seniors Delaney Montee and Eesha Naqvi had a chance to practice CPR on the new female manikins Wednesday.
Eesha said while anatomically different, performing chest compressions on the female torso was exactly the same as on a male.
Both Delaney and Eesha said they hope the concept of performing CPR on a woman becomes less stigmatized so that more women’s lives can be saved.
Senior Calahan Bunch said he believes it’s a step in the right direction to include female torsos in training.
“Just saying it’s the same isn’t enough,” he said.
Ashlynn’s parents Seth and Valerie Goldstein said they are proud of their daughter for taking up this project.
“She’s running with it,” her dad said. “It doesn’t surprise me, but it amazes me.”
Valerie Goldstein described her daughter as extremely smart, driven and hard-working, and not afraid to try something hard.
Naperville Central High School teacher Seth Brady said the capstone course is designed to take a social issue and create something that can be acted upon.
“As a teacher, my goal is for students to realize their own agency in this world and work towards affecting a change for the common good,” Brady said. “The expectation is real action that is measurable. How can I put my thumb on the scale to change public practice or move things into policy.”
Ashlynn described her experience as a “learning journey.”
In 2014, Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation requiring CPR and AED training for students in all Illinois high schools. The bill, also known as Lauren’s Law, was recommended by George Laman, whose daughter Lauren collapsed and died at her high school drill team practice in 2008. An AED was available at the school but was not used until the paramedics arrived 13 minutes after the initial call.
According to the American Heart Association, cardiac arrest claims more lives than colorectal cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, influenza, pneumonia, auto accidents, HIV, firearms and house fires combined.
More than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside a hospital setting each year, the heart association said. If CPR is administered immediately after one occurs, it can double or triple a person’s chance of survival. However, only about 40% of people who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac episode receive bystander CPR, the heart association said.
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
