Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Voga bamb here. Breasts, to put it mildly,
Speaker 1: can sometimes get in the way. They're the recipients of
Speaker 1: some unwanted attention. It, just to be fair, some wanted attention.
Speaker 1: They can make it hard to find properly fitting clothing,
Speaker 1: and they require all kinds of special and sometimes unpredictable maintenance.
Speaker 1: They can cause back pain, can hurt during exercise, and
Speaker 1: can be strapped down by bras, which are often uncomfortable
Speaker 1: and almost always expensive. All of this is inconvenient and annoying,
Speaker 1: but not really a matter of life and death. But
Speaker 1: did it ever occur to you that breasts might be
Speaker 1: the reason that you might not be administered CPR if
Speaker 1: you need it. It's true, and one New York based
Speaker 1: creative agency is taking the initiative to try to change that.
Speaker 1: The problem is this, those who have formally or informally
Speaker 1: learned CPR, or who are at least confident enough to
Speaker 1: attempt it in a situation where it might do more
Speaker 1: good than harm, are overwhelmingly comfortable only if the chest
Speaker 1: of the person in need of CPR is reasonably flat.
Speaker 1: In other words, if it resembles CPR dummies, Female breasts
Speaker 1: get in the way, and research shows that those who
Speaker 1: would be inclined to perform CPR on a cardiac arrest
Speaker 1: victim in need are less likely to do so if
Speaker 1: there are breasts complicating the situation. Since it's mostly women
Speaker 1: who have breasts, it's mostly women who are subject to
Speaker 1: this kind of probably unintentional discrimination, So how much of
Speaker 1: an impact does this have? A research indicates women are
Speaker 1: twenty seven percent less likely to receive CPR if the
Speaker 1: experience a cardiac arrest incident in public, since prompt administration
Speaker 1: of cprs key in such situations that could indeed be
Speaker 1: a matter of life and death. But enter the woll Mannequin.
Speaker 1: The Womannequin is a training brov sorts to help bring
Speaker 1: equality to CPR. The Womannequin is a fabric add on
Speaker 1: that bestows a standard CPR dummy with breasts so people
Speaker 1: can learn CPR in a way that will hopefully keep
Speaker 1: them from being scared to perform the lifesaving procedure on
Speaker 1: approximately half of the adult population. The idea is to
Speaker 1: get people used to the idea that performing CPR on
Speaker 1: a woman means that, yes, there will be some hand
Speaker 1: to breast contact, but we spoke via email with the
Speaker 1: Joane Agency's co founder and chief creative officer, Jamie Robinson.
Speaker 1: Via email, she said, there are so many ways women
Speaker 1: are treated differently and this resulted in them dying in
Speaker 1: the streets with nobody rushing into help. It seemed like
Speaker 1: an issue that was solvable and comes directly from a
Speaker 1: lack of education and awareness. The performing CPR and a
Speaker 1: woman is a normal and necessary thing. The O mannequin
Speaker 1: took about four months to develop, from the time the
Speaker 1: Joane team first came up with the idea to its
Speaker 1: reveal in June of twenty nineteen. Of course, Joan Creative
Speaker 1: enlisted the help of medical experts to ensure that the
Speaker 1: womannequan is as useful and accurate as possible. That included
Speaker 1: Dr Audrey Bluer, the author of the study that inspired
Speaker 1: the entire endeavor, who is currently an epidemiologist and a
Speaker 1: citation scientist at Duke University. Joan shared the process with
Speaker 1: Bluer and acknowledged that the team was fortunate to have
Speaker 1: that opportunity. The Joan team also worked closely with other
Speaker 1: doctors and experts in CPR, including the New York based
Speaker 1: Frontline CPR, a school that was closely involved throughout the process,
Speaker 1: and the United State of Women, a national organization that
Speaker 1: connects and amplifies the work of organizations and individuals who
Speaker 1: are addressing inequalities. These partnerships ensure that the Womannequan is
Speaker 1: properly designed and has the credibility necessary to get it
Speaker 1: into the right hands to make an impact as intended.
Speaker 1: Joan isn't finished with the Womannequin. In fact, the hardest
Speaker 1: part maybe yet to come, convincing gatekeepers that it's necessary
Speaker 1: and useful despite the overwhelming evidence that women are currently
Speaker 1: underserved in this area. Jones team says that they hope
Speaker 1: to get Womannequin into every CPR school in the country
Speaker 1: by next year, motivated by a goal that cardiac intervention
Speaker 1: saves lives. Furthermore, Joan isn't driven by profit. Robinson says
Speaker 1: that the idea was to make well Mannequin is easy
Speaker 1: to replicate as possible to encourage widespread adoption, and thus
Speaker 1: its pattern is available to anyone with open sourced plans
Speaker 1: available for free download. One of the elements of this
Speaker 1: story that initially caught our editorial team's eye is that
Speaker 1: joan creative, initiated the Womannequin project simply out of an
Speaker 1: opportunity and a need to do good. It's unusual, but
Speaker 1: not unheard of, for creative agencies to spend time and
Speaker 1: resources on internal projects that aren't funded by a client.
Speaker 1: Usually the goal for such a project is publicity, and
Speaker 1: to be sure, there's an element of that in the
Speaker 1: Womannequin story, but in this case there may be a
Speaker 1: measurable improvement in women's lives and the saving of them
Speaker 1: as well. Today's episode was written by Shery's three Wit
Speaker 1: and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more on
Speaker 1: this and lots of other inclusive topics, visit our home planet,
Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com, and for more podcasts from
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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.