ABOUT
Our Story
Hawaiʻi Heart Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit established in 2010, with the mission of improving cardiac arrest survival rates across the state. Our Kids Teach Kids program started it all, and has grown into two school-age programs — KIDS4CPR (K-6) and Common Sense CPR (7-12) — teaching lifesaving CPR and AED skills to keiki statewide.
OUR FOUNDERS
Sharon Maekawa · Pam Foster
Our Why
Kristin Maekawa Claudi
The Foundation was established in memory of Kristin Maekawa Claudi, a 28-year-old Oʻahu schoolteacher who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest during a meeting. 911 was activated, the school did not have an AED at the time and unfortunately Kristin did not survive. Her mom knew that if Kristin had collapsed at home, she would not have been able to save her since she did not know CPR. Kristin's story continues to inspire our mission to ensure that more people survive sudden cardiac arrest through education, awareness, and preparedness.
Briana
A 39-year-old King Kaumualiʻi Elementary School special education teacher, and other staff members were in a planning day meeting. As they sat down to lunch, Briana collapsed at the table and stopped responding. She was frozen, not breathing and not moving. Staff immediately called 911, the counselor grabbed the close by AED and the VP started chest compressions. The AED shocked Briana twice before the local EMS arrived and she was transported to Wilcox hospital and then flown over to Oahu for further care where she made a full recovery.
Briana is alive today because her school was not only annually trained by Kauai Firefighters, but her school had multiple AEDs on campus and one was close by and ready for use.
