#MySongCanSaveLives: Artists promote resuscitation

Successful social media campaign for the World Restart a Heart Day

 
The annual World Restart a Heart Day with the motto "Your two hands can save a life!" took place for the third consecutive year on October 16 in 2020. The World Restart a Heart initiative under the umbrella of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) will raise awareness of bystander resuscitation worldwide to help saving lives.
 
Despite the special situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, many very successful campaigns were carried out worldwide. The social media campaign "#MySongCanSaveLives" of the German Resuscitation Council (GRC) in cooperation with the German Resuscitation Foundation and the University Hospital of Cologne achieved a very special success.
 
In the campaign, singers and other artists were contacted and invited to share their songs which provide the necessary beat for resuscitation on popular social media platforms. “The aim of #MySongCanSaveLives is to raise awareness of the issue among the public: Everyone should think of the song of their favorite artist in case of an emergency and properly implement the beat for resuscitation. And when your favorite singer asks you to think about the topic, it has a completely different effect than if we do this.", says Univ.-Prof. Dr. Bernd Böttiger.
 
Some people are familiar with “Stayin´ Alive” by the Bee Gees, but it is not so obvious that Roland Kaiser with “Liebe kann uns retten” and "Joana" or Rolf Zuckowski with “Hallo Mama, Hallo Papa” also have suitable songs with the resuscitation beat. Around October 16, therefore, numerous contributions as well as videos were posted under #MySongCanSaveLives and awareness for bystander resuscitation was raised. Furthermore, artists like Culcha Candela with “Hamma” or David Garrett with the classic song “Stayin' Alive” and also bands from Cologne such as Cat Ballou with “Immer immer widder” or Miljö with “Mer setze em selve Boot” participated as well. As a result, additional target groups could be addressed, since the classic “Stayin' Alive” is sometimes no longer familiar to younger generations. 
 
The campaign was also an international success: In cooperation with the Austrian Resuscitation Council, it was possible to reach the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, which posted the Radetzky March in the appropriate beat for resuscitation. Andrew Lloyd Webber additionally took part in the campaign with "The Phantom of the Opera".