There is reason to believe that by closing the knowledge gap around cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), more of these deaths can be prevented. While it is not commonly taught in the Indonesian curriculum or in educational institutions, a young student from British School Jakarta is aiming to change that in order to save more lives.

The presentation for this initiative became one of the projects highlighted in this year’s Jakarta Scholars Symposium (JSS), entitled “Catalyst for Change,” held in the Energy Building on Wednesday, May 27. 

The first beat

For 11^th grader Russell Young, it all started when he saw a piece of paper at a café in New York City, the United States, about emergency situations, specifically detailing the instructions to administer CPR.

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While many would muse about mundane everyday things while waiting for their beverage, Russell’s mind somehow settled on the similarities between that piece of paper and the publicly accessible AED (Automated External Defibrillator) boxes in several public places in Singapore. It disheartened him that those similarities did not extend to his hometown of Jakarta.

"I realized there was a gap in emergency preparedness between Indonesia and a country like the US that seems far more resourced. In reality, it comes down to the effort we're willing to put into promoting these skills," he said.

In the summer of 2024, he enrolled in Harvard Medical School's MEDscience program, which happened to include CPR and first aid training through the American Red Cross, the very skills he had already decided to learn. When he returned from his summer break, Russell’s anecdote became the start of a movement: Beatkeepers Collective.

Beatkeepers Collective

“Beatkeepers is a non-profit initiative that I founded in 2024, and our main objective is to basically improve Indonesia's awareness and preparedness for medical emergencies, whether that be cardiac arrest or other cardiovascular-related illnesses, by advocating for increased CPR training, as well as training in operating AED kits, which are our two primary objectives,” he clarified.

The student-led initiative is pushing for basic CPR and first aid skills to be made mandatory in local school's curriculums through workshops in both public and private schools around Jakarta.

He continued, “We host workshops in the hopes that we can foster the next generation of first aid responders. [We’ve gone through] more than 10 schools at this point, and this includes Sekolah Binar, Sekolah Maleo, SMAN 3, SMAN 4, British School Jakarta and SPH, just to name a few.”

Russell also mentioned that every single workshop is done in collaboration with Revive and Evolve Society, a non-profit community and educational platform for students focused on the health sector that frequently hosts clinical immersion programs for students in grades 9-12. Through the collaboration, Beatkeepers Collective is able to teach students about CPR and AED skills with the support of two dedicated doctors.

“They've helped supervise basically almost every session that we've done, be it outside of my original workshops in British School Jakarta, before I met them. And basically what they do, one of them is a surgeon and is certified in ATLS, which is Advanced Trauma Life Support. And so they've helped us supervise our sessions, ensure that everything we're teaching the students is accurate, it's up to date, it's in line with medical standards, both in Indonesia and the rest of the world,” Russell stated. He emphasized that by making sure that the workshops are not missing anything vital about the life-saving methods is another way for the collective to maximize their impact.

However, he also signals that more collaborations may already be in the works for the future.

“We're planning to work with the Red Cross in order to donate legitimate CPR training mannequins and also AED kits so that the students can practice and actually apply the skills that they've learned with us. And also, we're opening the opportunity for students from other international schools to open up their own chapter of Beat Keepers if they're ever interested,” he said, encouraging students to work with them to create an even bigger impact together, rather than making an unconnected initiative of their own.

The rescue mission

In order to keep their skills fresh after the workshop ends, Russell created a game called Town Rescue. He explained that the idea came from a practical gap. People tend to forget the CPR steps within a few months of a course, with no easy way to practice once the manikins are gone. The game was his answer, a free simulation anyone could return to from their phone to keep the sequence fresh

Players begin in a small grid town where a passer-by suddenly collapses. Their character rushes over to check on him and from that moment, every decision rests in the player's hands. “At every point in the simulation, you have to make a choice," he explained.

Users are able to play through the whole process of first aid, whether it be from the initial responsiveness check, to the CPR itself, to even calling the ambulance for professional medical assistance. The aim is that for anyone who has done the workshop will be able to choose the correct options given from the game.

"What makes it work is that it's active rather than passive. Most CPR practice needs a manikin and an instructor in the room, but anyone with an internet connection can run through the real decisions in Town Rescue, for free, as many times as they want. That's the piece I'm proudest of, because it means the learning doesn't stop when the workshop ends,” Russell adds.

Most of all, he emphasized that knowing these skills in emergency situation can be the catalyst to save someone’s life and anybody can be the reason to make sure that someone can go home to their family at the end of the day.

"These skills are so easy to learn and so accessible that it wouldn't make sense for anybody to have an excuse not to learn them. And that's why we believe that emergency preparedness isn't really a question of a country's wealth or resources or level of development. It comes down to awareness and the effort we're willing to put in. If enough students get behind this, there's no reason any community here can't be fully prepared to respond when a life is on the line," he concluded.

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