College student to demonstrate Hands-Only CPR via kiosk to person whose life he saved
Last April, Matt Lickenbrock, a University of Dayton student, saved the life of a fellow student using Hands-Only CPR, a lifesaving technique that he learned from an instructional kiosk. Today, Matt will show Sean Ferguson, the student whose heart stopped beating after being struck by lightning, how to learn Hands-Only CPR on a new training kiosk at Indianapolis International Airport (IND).
Seven U.S. sites, including IND, will feature a Hands-Only CPR Training Kiosk, courtesy of the American Heart Association’s national partnership with the Anthem Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Anthem, Inc. IND travelers can now put their time to good use and take five minutes to learn the simple yet lifesaving skills of Hands-Only CPR much in the same way that Matt did.
Matt had a three-hour layover at Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport on April 6, 2015 when he decided to learn something useful. He put down his phone and learned CPR at a Hands-Only CPR Training Kiosk in Gate C7. He practiced about 10 to 15 minutes until he got a perfect score.
Two days later, an evening storm rolled through Dayton, Ohio, where Matt attends college. Matt decided to drive to class instead of walking. As he got out of his car at the campus parking lot, a professor yelled to him, “Do you know CPR?” A student named Sean Ferguson was lying on the ground after being struck by lightning and he had no pulse.
Matt rushed over to Sean and started performing Hands-Only CPR immediately.
“I remember kneeling in the rain, doing compressions, wondering if this would make a difference,” he recalled in his recent appearance on the syndicated television program The Doctors. “I felt comfortable. It felt just like it did on the kiosk. I knew what I was doing because it was what I was trained to do.”
He administered CPR for about two minutes. When the paramedics arrived, Sean had a pulse. Sean, who also suffered over 30 percent burns on his body, made a full recovery. He and Matt met three months later and became fast friends.
“When someone saves your life, that’s the biggest gift anyone can give,” Sean said. “There is no doubt in my mind that Matt is my guardian angel.”
Speaking at IND, Matt, 22, and Sean, 24, will share more of their powerful story, and discuss the ease of using the kiosk to complete the training.
The kiosk features a touch screen with a video that gives a brief “how-to,” followed by a practice session and a 30-second CPR test. With the help of a practice manikin, or a rubber torso, the kiosk provides feedback about the depth and rate of compressions and proper hand placement – factors that influence the effectiveness of CPR.
“We want to empower more lifesavers like Matt to take five minutes at the kiosk and learn Hands-Only CPR because you never know when you will have to use this critical skill,” said Tom Brown, member of the Indianapolis Board of Directors of the American Heart Association. “For the past four years, the American Heart Association and Anthem Foundation have been working to educate millions of Americans about Hands-Only- CPR with the goal of preparing people to save the lives of anyone from perfect strangers to loved ones.”
Cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death with over 350,000 out-of-hospital cases occurring every year in the U.S. More than 20 percent occur in public places like airports, casinos and sporting facilities. When a teen or adult has a cardiac arrest, survival depends on immediately receiving CPR from someone nearby. Survival rates drop as much as 10 percent for every minute that goes by without intervention.
“Bystander CPR performed immediately after cardiac arrest can double or triple a person’s chance of surviving cardiac arrest and, making these kiosks available is another way we can help improve cardiac arrest survival rates,” said Craig Samitt, MD executive vice president and chief clinical officer at Anthem, Inc. “Airports are some of the busiest public places and we can’t think of a better place to maximize the number of people who are exposed to the kiosks as part of our Hands-Only CPR educational campaign with the American Heart Association. By making it more accessible, we believe the kiosks will inspire more Americans to learn Hands-Only CPR and be better prepared to help save the life of a loved one, or even a stranger in the event of a cardiac arrest.”
With the Anthem Foundation’s support, the American Heart Association has already placed a kiosk at Chicago O’Hare International and will place three kiosks at the following airports: Las Vegas’ McCarran International; Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International; and Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall. Two additional kiosks will be available at The Global Center for Health Innovation in Cleveland, Ohio; and Anthem’s office in Washington, D.C.
The launch of these seven kiosks comes on the heels of the successful and life-saving pilot kiosk installed in 2013 at the Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport (DFW) by AHA and American Airlines Occupation Health Services. This kiosk, which is located in Terminal C, Gate 7, has trained more than 25,000 travelers.
The kiosks are part of an effort that began five years ago when AHA simplified the steps of CPR to encourage more people to take action: if a bystander sees a teen or adult collapse, he or she should first call 9-1-1, then push hard and fast in the center of the chest to the beat of “Stayin’ Alive,” which has the perfect cadence for proper CPR. Hands-Only CPR removes the step of rescue breaths; bystanders should simply keep pushing until emergency help arrives. This effort coincided with major support from the Anthem Foundation, which this year received the AHA Impact Award in recognition of impacting the lives of people across the country by bringing them the lifesaving skill of Hands-Only CPR.
To learn more about the Hands-Only CPR campaign and learn how to save a life, please visit www.heart.org/handsonlycpr or facebook.com/AHACPR . To get fully trained in CPR and find a class near you, visit www.heart.org/CPR.
SOURCE: American Heart Association