If you follow the NFL you probably heard about Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills defensive back who had a cardiac arrest on the field while playing against the Cincinnati Bengals on January 2nd.
After a routine tackle, Hamlin, a 24-year-old athlete, collapsed and had his heart resuscitated by the Buffalo Bills assistant trainer, Denny Kellington, not once, but twice. Kellington’s quick actions to identify a cardiac arrest and immediately perform the necessary cardiopulmonary resuscitation ultimately saved Hamlin.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency lifesaving procedure performed immediately after the heart stops beating, which can double or triple the chances of survival after a cardiac arrest. For Hamlin, it did just that. After only nine days spent at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in Ohio under the care of Dr. William Knight IV and Dr. Timothy Pritts and then transferred to the Buffalo General Medical Center/Gates Vascular Institute, Hamlin returned home to continue rehab. The Chief of Surgery, Dr. Pritts, stated that the immediate actions of medical personnel were vital to not only saving not only Hamlin’s life, but saving his neurological function.
The scary thing is, 350,000 Americans die from a cardiac arrest in one year. That means about 90 percent of people who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest die. Why? Because only about 46 percent of those who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest get immediate help.
Improve these statistics by becoming CPR certified. As an American Heart Association basic life support instructor and the manager of our Training Center at Gundersen Health System, I highly recommend everyone become certified. CPR teaches you how to correctly perform high-quality CPR and it teaches you the critical steps in the chain of survival.
And the best thing? Anyone can do it. Healthcare providers, family, friends, your neighbor. Everyone who becomes CPR certified has the potential to save someone’s life, which is important because a cardiac arrest can occur to anyone; Damar Hamlin proved this. As a fit 24-year-old football player, Hamlin shocked the nation. Not only because millions of people watched what occurred, but because he was so young. CPR saved his life!
CPR gave Hamlin a second chance at life. It gave him the ability to talk to his team and his family again. It gave him the potential to play football again. He may never walk back on a football field, but at least he could if given the proper precautions. All because of Kellington, immediate CPR, and an automatic external defibrillator, Hamlin is home.
It’s not just Hamlin who we need to worry about. Anyone can have a cardiac arrest. It could be an elderly individual in the grocery store who’s checking out in front of you. It could be your significant other while making dinner. It could be a child you are babysitting.
Cardiac arrest does not discriminate. It does not occur at optimal times. It does not wait for healthcare providers to be present. Which is more reason everyone should be CPR certified. So, what are you waiting for? Learn CPR and save someone’s life. Because you never know when a cardiac arrest will occur.
A video platform can increase the effectiveness of skill development in CPR training through self-flection and engagement. If you are looking for a video capture platform for training, evaluation, and evidence download our Next-Gen Guide The Next Generation of Audio/Video Capture in Healthcare and Higher Education to understand what to look for and how to evaluate a system that meets your needs and requirements.
An easy-to-use video recording system is identifiable by its features and by the way it’s implemented, adopted, and maintained. If you’re ready to begin your evaluation process, contact us.