Serena Ting
OUR MISSION
MEET THE MEMBERS
Co-President
2nd-year Public Health Major
Jasmine Arora
Rachel Lee
Secretary
2nd-year MCB Major
Social Media and Graphic Design Manager
4th-year IB Major
When a mentor of mine passed away due to sudden cardiac arrest, I was shocked and angry. He was a healthy individual who died overnight and I couldn’t understand how he was struck without any warning signs. 15,000 people die from sudden cardiac arrest every year and if they had only had access to an AED, their life could have been saved. When I came across SHOCKS nonprofit, I found students who were just as passionate and dedicated as I wanted to be in taking a stand and raising awareness for sudden cardiac arrest. I hope that as this chapter grows at UC Berkeley, other students will join the movement and contribute to raising awareness so that if sudden cardiac arrest strikes close to home, they’ll know how to take appropriate action.
I am passionate about making positive impacts within the healthcare industry, so during my undergraduate career at UC Berkeley, I wanted to immerse myself in extracurriculars that promoted positive changes in our community. I discovered SHOCKS while perusing the DeCal website and discovered a group of people who were just as passionate as I was about taking action to address issues within healthcare. As a member of SHOCKS, I learned so much about AEDs and sudden cardiac arrest. With my new knowledge, I hope to raise awareness about the importance of AED accessibility.
Email: shocksberkeley@gmail.com
CONTACT US
SHOCKS
UC Berkeley
Our UC Berkeley club works in affiliation with the SHOCKS non-profit organization to increase accessibility of automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) in Californian schools and raise awareness of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) through campus outreach and online activity. We are a passionate group of students who want to increase the Berkeley community's understanding of the 15,000 children who die every year due to SCA as well as the CA state legislation that prevents proper AED access.
Shannon Tsang
Co-President
2nd-year MEB Major
When I was first introduced to the SHOCKS mission, I was startled by how common SCA was for children. I thought that only people later in their lives undergo cardiac arrest. However, I was even more struck by the lack of responsibility that the CA government had taken over the issue. State legislation concerning AEDs is extremely weak and provides no assurance that students will have proper access to AED treatment if the need should arise. I hope that through the SHOCKS UC Berkeley club, we can increase campus awareness of SCA and truly make a different in the Berkeley public school district.
I became interested in learning more about AEDs and sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) when I noticed a beeping red box sitting in the living room at home. Having family and relatives with various heart concerns, I wanted to become more involved and to advocate for AED installations.
Last semester, after I found out that one of the students I was mentoring on a weekly basis had suffered from SCA, the importance of having AEDs readily available in unexpected moments really stood out to me. I also took the SHOCKS Decal, where I learned of the differences between heart attacks and SCAs, which I wasn't aware of before. I hope to make an impact with other members of the SHOCKS student group.
