When cardiac arrest strikes, every minute matters. A victim’s chance of survival drops by around 10 percent for every minute without CPR. In those moments, the person most likely to help is not a doctor, but the person standing nearby.

Dr Jade Kua serves as Director of the DARE (Dispatcher Assisted First Responder) Programme, a national initiative that trains members of the public in life-saving CPR and AED skills. Working in partnership with Singapore’s Ministries of Health, Education, Manpower and Home Affairs, the programme has reached community centres, schools, migrant worker communities and correctional facilities across the country.

The vision is simple but powerful: to equip at least one trained responder in every household.

The impact of this work has been recognised nationally.

The DARE Programme received the Academic Medicine Education Institute (SingHealth Duke-NUS) Programme Innovation Award in 2017. Dr Jade also led the NurseFirst team, a pre-hospital triaging system, to receive the NHG Quality Excellence in Action Team Award in 2023.

As a consultant in emergency medicine with a Master’s degree in Trauma Sciences, Dr Jade also serves as an expert advisor to the Ministry of Health on community response in pre-hospital emergency care. Her work reflects a broader commitment to strengthening public preparedness and ensuring that life-saving skills are accessible beyond hospital walls.

As featured in

• Prestige Online: Jade Kua Dares You

• Prestige Online: Power for Good 2020

• The Asian Parent: Dr Jade Kua