Demand For CPR, AED Training Surges

The entire country watched medical staff save a life on the football field earlier this month. Buffalo Bills personnel performed CPR and used a defibrillator to resuscitate player Damar Hamlin after sudden cardiac arrest. Now, people around the country are signing up for training to learn how they can respond in an emergency.

In North Merrick, New York, dozens of people took a recent CPR and defibrillator training, learning what they can do if someone’s in cardiac arrest.

Kathleen Blakely says after watching what happened to Damar Hamlin, it’s on everyone’s mind. “It just brought awareness to people about what they can do in a situation like that,” she says.

North Merrick Fire Department Paramedic and EMS Coordinator Kevin O’Hara says every minute defibrillation is delayed means a 10% less chance of survival. “If you talk about a 5 minute response time for EMS that’s 50% less chance, so the people are really are the ones who save lives, initiate CPR, if an AED is available put that AED on the person.”

Jill Levine organizes these trainings through the Robbie Levine Foundation. She lost her 9-year-old son to cardiac arrest on the little league field in 2005. She says, “Robbie had to wait for the ambulance to come. It's too late. It’s too late. That's why they need to be everywhere. If there was an AED on the field, he would be alive.”

The Levines’ mission is to donate AEDs to any league, organization or facility that needs one and get as many people trained as they can, which is more than 10,000 to date.

“The better chance there is that somebody can use the AED and save somebody else's life,” Levine says.

That’s why father and basketball coach Andrew Wenzel is here. “It’s something anyone can do. I have no medical training and in two hours I’m much more comfortable to be able to do this,” he says.

The American Heart Association says more than 350,000 cardiac arrests happen outside of the hospital every year.

To find a training class near you, click here.