Congratulations to our Winter 2021 Scholarship Winner!

EMT, aspiring half-marathoner, and President of the Girl Up and SoBear Activities Clubs, Savannah Doelfelis a neuroscience major who hopes to eventually combine her interests in medicine and law upon graduating from Brown University. We are delighted to announce that Savannah is also the recipient of the Winter 2021 Avive College Scholarship.  

Savannah impressed us with her insights about how data can be used to advocate for improvements in Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) response and survival. During the summer of 2020, Savannah coded over 1000 SCA patient care reports into the Rhode Island Prehospital Cardiac arrest Outcomes Registry Database (RIPCORD) and worked on research examining how RI-specific policies, like 30 minutes of on-scene time, may impact survival.  

When asked about the importance of robust, population-level data to address disparities in resuscitation, Savannah shares, “RIPCORD and similar registries that track cardiac arrest events and outcomes help identify trends and gaps in cardiac arrest response between regions. We need to understand what is happening before designing solutions to improve disparities. Data can provide that fundamental knowledge to improve systems of care and advocate for equipment like AEDs.”  

While the importance of Automated External Defibrillators (AED) in the cardiac arrest Chain of Survival is well understood, localized and regionally-compiled data is valuable in further documenting and improving public access defibrillation. With her research, Savannah hopes to advocate for “an equal field of care throughout the entire state (Rhode Island) so that each community has the best possible survival outcomes, especially for cardiac arrests.” 

Outside of this research, Savannah works as an EMT for Brown University EMS where she serves as the Basic Life Support Supervisor, leading student teams on emergency calls in the community. In 2021, she hopes to complete her training as a CPR instructor to teach other students about how to recognize and save lives from cardiac arrest.  

Avive would like to recognize each of our applicants for their achievements and thoughtful submissions. We were impressed with the number of innovative ideas our applicants discussed in their videos and essays. Thank you to all those who applied.  

Avive offers a $750 scholarship bi-annually. Students can apply by June 30th, 2021 for the Fall Scholarship. Just upload your best essay (fewer than 1,000 words) or video (shorter than 5 minutes) on how you would drive awareness about the importance of CPR and using an AED. Click here for full details.