Push It Real Good: Heart Association, DJ Earworm Build CPR Awareness

“Stayin’ Alive” is a great song, but it isn’t really hip with the kids anymore.

The American Heart Association, which has promoted the use of hands-only CPR in recent years—encouraging people assisting someone suffering from cardiac arrest to dial 911, then pound the victim’s chest to the beat of the Bee Gees disco classic—is working with a slightly more modern tunesmith to promote its message.

That guy? Mashup artist DJ Earworm. The DJ, best known for his year-end “United State of Pop” mixes, which combine the year’s 25 most popular songs into a single catchy mix  (opens in a new tab), mashed together Karmin’s “Pulses,” NoNoNo’s “Pumpin Blood,” and Salt-N-Pepa’s “Push It” into a tune called the “Hands-Only CPR Mash-Up.” Here’s a clip:

The musical message is part of the association’s awareness effort for its National CPR and AED Awareness Week  (opens in a new tab), which kicked off yesterday and runs through Saturday, June 7. And, like “Stayin’ Alive,” the tune pulses along at 100 beats per minute—the AHA’s recommended pace for performing chest compressions using the hands-only CPR technique. (You can view a music-free version of the method here  (opens in a new tab).)

“Eighty percent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen at home, which means that if you’re called on to perform hands-only CPR, you’ll most likely be trying to save the life of someone you know and love,” DJ Earworm told Yahoo Music  (opens in a new tab).

The campaign, in its third year, has been a success so far for the association. A 2011 clip promoting hands-only CPR  (opens in a new tab), featuring Community star Ken Jeong and the pulsating beat of “Stayin’ Alive,” drew upward of 1.5 million views.

A clip from a promotional video for the “Hands-Only CPR Mash-Up.” (YouTube screenshot)