Speech by Mr Amrin Amin, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Health, at the DARE Public Engagement Event at Toa Payoh Hub, 26 May 2018

Dr Jade Kua, Programme Director of DARE, Unit for Pre-hospital Emergency Care, Ministry of Health and Consultant, Department of Emergency Medicine, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital

Associate Professor Marcus Ong, Clinical Director, Unit for Pre-hospital Emergency Care

Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Bob Tan, Assistant Director, Community Preparedness & Response, Volunteer and Community Partnership Department, Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF)

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

1.    Good afternoon. It is my pleasure to join you at this event.

2.    Cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime without warning. Time is of essence when someone is suffering from a cardiac arrest and a few precious minutes can make a critical difference in outcomes to the cardiac arrest patient.

3.    The Dispatcher-Assisted first Responder programme, or DARE for short, is an important initiative which encourages ordinary Singaporeans to step forward and provide immediate assistance to anyone who has collapsed from cardiac arrest.

4.    Of the more than 2,300 cardiac arrests[1] that occur in Singapore each year, 70% happen in residential areas.  The majority of cases happen in the presence of someone they know.  This means that anyone of us – family, friends, neighbours or bystanders – may potentially encounter a cardiac arrest victim.  With this in mind, it is especially important for us to learn how to perform Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation or CPR, and use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), when available.  We all need to be better prepared and DARE to come forward to save a life, who may well be a loved one.

5.    When someone collapses and “995” is called, the SCDF will assess and respond by sending an emergency ambulance.  However, the majority of victims do not receive any form of life-saving aid until paramedics arrive.  This is worrying as the chance of survival drops by about 10% for every minute delay in applying CPR.     While waiting for an ambulance to arrive on scene, you can do more to increase someone’s chance of survival by administering CPR and AED within the first few minutes of the collapse.

6.    DARE is specially designed by the Unit for Pre-hospital Emergency Care to make learning CPR and using an AED easy.  It is a simplified one-hour programme that teaches participants to recognise a cardiac arrest and how to help save lives through three key steps: (1) call 995 and stay on the line with the 995 specialist who will provide step-by-step instructions, (2) perform CPR by pushing hard and fast at the middle of the chest and (3) use an AED, where available.

7.    The launch of the DARE mobile app will now make it even easier for all of us to learn these essential life-saving skills.  The app provides easy-to-follow instructional videos and allows everyone to learn basic CPR on the go.  You can also locate your nearest AED using the DARE app.  The launch of the DARE app also complements our wider” SG Secure” initiative to stay alert and be prepared at all times, to react and respond in different types of emergency situations.

8.    As a community, we all can play a part to deal with emergencies.  Key partners such as the People’s Association, community centres, educational institutions, as well as religious, private and governmental organisations are supporting the DARE initiative, so that more of us can have the knowledge and confidence to be a first responder. Since the launch of DARE, over 75,000 Singaporeans have benefitted from DARE training and we hope to reach out to more people. 

9.    Besides equipping the community with the necessary skills and confidence of doing CPR and using an AED, it is also important that first responders have ready access to the right tools to attend to cardiac arrest cases in residential areas. The Singapore Civil Defence Force, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Singapore Heart Foundation and the People’s Association introduced the Save-A-Life Initiative in 2015. Through this initiative, AEDs will be installed in phases at the lift lobby of every two HDB blocks island-wide by 2019.  I am pleased to announce that more than 700 AEDs had been installed in public community areas such as PA Community Clubs and facilities, as well as HDB blocks since FY2013.

10.    It is inspiring to see the good community response and support here today at Toa Payoh Hub. I would like to encourage each and every one of you to download and use the DARE app. Do also participate in the DARE trainings. Save a heart, save a life.

11.    Thank you.

[1] This refers to the number of cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.