BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — The horrifying moments surrounding the cardiac arrest of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin are a reminder for everyone to learn about Hands-Only CPR.
“When somebody goes into cardiac arrest it means their heart has stopped beating. It's usually caused by an electrical malfunction of some kind — something that causes the heart to go out of rhythm and stop beating,” Lisa Neff, senior community impact director, American Heart Association, Buffalo.
The terrifying scene during Monday Night Football is a teachable moment on the importance of this life-saving skill.
“You can double or triple somebody's chances of surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest just with Hands-Only CPR,” Neff explained.
Neff says Hands-Only CPR can only be used on teens and adults.
Neff and Dan Neaverth, commissioner of Erie County's Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services say from an emergency perspective — everything went right on the football field.
“Everybody that has contact with the players has some degree of first aid training and they know what their role is,” Neaverth noted.
Neaverth has been involved with emergency management at the Bills stadium for many years. He tells me when it comes to E-M-S response, including "on the field”, NFL teams are ready.
“Collectively there are more trained CPR-capable individuals at that stadium than I would say throughout the entire county at that given time,” Neaverth replied.
Neaverth says CPR has been performed at the stadium over the years.
“We have had those incidents not on the field, but outside of the gates. We’ve had them inside the stadium with positive outcomes because of that rapid response,” Neaverth recalls.
Neff gave me a lesson on what to do with an unresponsive person.
“Hey, can you hear me? Hey, can you hear me? Try to get them to respond to you. Make eye contact. Check for regular breaths. If none of that is occurring — if you're by yourself — you dial 9-11 and you put your phone on speaker and you begin compressions,” instructed Neff.
American Heart Association's two easy steps for you to perform Hands-Only CPR:
1. Call 9-1-1
2. Push hard and fast in the center of the chest to the beat of the disco song “Stayin' Alive.”
Then you can begin Hands-Only compressions to the person's chest.
“Compression and we push to the beat of the Bee Gee's Staying Alive — so push, push, push, push, push. I'm going to have you bring your hands up a little bit more into the center, right there, so that hard part of your hand is right in the center,” demonstrated Ness.
The American Heart Association has a number of training tools to learn Hands-Only and also full CPR training programs. Mess says there's no doubt, with so many moved by that fearful moment they might be willing to learn.
You can watch a video from the American Heart Association below.
Even a social media post from the Williamsville Fire Department is encouraging all of us to learn and “Do It For Damar”.
