Sometimes You Meet Someone and Just Know They’re Going to Make a Difference
Every once in a while, you have a conversation that sticks with you.
Our recent conversation with Jessica Tan, founder of Beat The Beat, was one of those.
Jessica is a high school senior in Westfield, New Jersey. She became an EMT at 16 (!!!) and, through both research and real-world experience, started looking more closely at something that doesn’t get talked about enough:
Not everyone has the same chance of receiving bystander CPR.
That question became personal for her.
And instead of just studying the problem, she decided to do something about it.
Jessica started Beat The Beat, a student-led nonprofit focused on free, inclusive CPR and AED education in her community.
Since then, she and her team have been teaching classes, bringing in teens, parents, babysitters and other community members, and creating a place where people can learn without cost being a barrier.
And they’re not slowing down.
Many of their classes fill quickly. Some have waitlists.
That tells you something.
People want this training.
They want to feel more prepared.
They want to know what to do if someone collapses in front of them.
And they want training that feels relevant to the real world.
The Part That Really Resonated With Us
Jessica’s work goes beyond simply teaching CPR.
She’s asking harder questions about who receives help, who gets overlooked, and why people sometimes hesitate.
She’s especially focused on gender disparities and the very real barriers that can affect whether someone steps in during a cardiac emergency.
That matters.
Because knowing CPR and actually using it are two very different things.
Fear matters.
Confidence matters.
Representation matters.
Practice matters.
And the more we can understand what causes people to hesitate, the better chance we have of changing it.
That’s a big part of why this partnership felt so natural to us.
This Is Exactly What The CPR Ready Generation Is About
When we started The CPR Ready Generation™, we knew we didn’t want it to be another awareness campaign.
We wanted it to be led by young people.
We wanted students to take what they were learning and carry it back into their schools, families and communities.
We wanted them to ask questions.
Start conversations.
Challenge assumptions.
Get other people involved.
And most importantly, feel confident enough to act when it matters.
Jessica and the students behind Beat The Beat are already doing that.
They didn’t need us to tell them how.
They were already building it.
That’s what makes this partnership so exciting.
Young People Don’t Have to Wait to Lead
One of the things we love most about Jessica’s story is that she didn’t wait.
She didn’t wait until college.
She didn’t wait until she had a title.
She didn’t wait until she was “old enough” to make an impact.
She saw something that mattered to her and started doing the work.
That’s powerful.
And honestly, that’s the kind of story we want more students to see.
Because leadership doesn’t always start with a big platform.
Sometimes it starts with one question.
One class.
One community.
One student deciding, this could be better.
What Comes Next
As part of this partnership, WorldPoint and Beat The Beat will work together to connect more students and schools with The CPR Ready Generation™ and help create more opportunities for young people to get involved in CPR and AED readiness.
We’ll also help amplify the work Beat The Beat is already doing and support connections with schools and students who want to bring that same energy into their own communities.
And we’re especially excited to see where Jessica takes this next.
She’s already thinking beyond training and into public health, public policy and legislation.
Something tells us this is just the beginning.
This Is Why We Do This
At the heart of all of this is something pretty simple:
A CPR card doesn’t save a life. A person willing to step forward does.
Training matters.
But confidence matters too.
So does access.
So does inclusion.
And so does helping people believe they are capable of responding when someone needs them.
That’s what Beat The Beat is working toward.
It’s what The CPR Ready Generation is working toward.
And we’re really proud to be doing this together.
Welcome, Beat The Beat!
We’re excited about this partnership and seeing what impact you will have!!
Learn More:
Learn more about Beat The Beat at BeatTheBeat.org.
The CPR Ready Generation™
From trained to ready.
That's The CPR Ready Generation™.
Student-Led. Sponsored by WorldPoint & Defibtech.
Ready to help starts with deciding you will.
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