Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival Communities Working
Together to Save Lives Every minute counts during an out-of-
hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). When an OHCA occurs, emergency
medical services (EMS) providers usually are the first to
respond. To help EMS providers improve their performance in
these situations and save more lives, CDC created the Cardiac
Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) in collaboration
with Emory University and the American Heart Association. How It
Works CARES helps EMS providers measure how well they respond to
OHCA calls. An essential part of the emergency process is called
the "chain of survival." Implementing the chain quickly can help
save lives—but how can EMS providers determine whether they're
fast enough? To help EMS providers evaluate their performance,
CARES provides agencies with a confidential, Web-based program
to gather quickly and easily local information such as 9-1-1
response times and locations. The software creates graphs,
charts, and maps for EMS pr