Local firefighter stresses importance of CPR in wake of Hamlin’s on-field collapse

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – Damar Hamlin remains in a Cincinnati hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest during a Monday night football game. When Hamlin went down, health officials began CPR immediately. After the terrifying incident, you may want to brush up on your CPR skills.

Cpt. Aaron Hague with Toledo Fire and Rescue says CPR is the best chance of survival, and it’s something everyone can learn and use to save a life.

Cpt. Hague says the fire department focuses on profusion when administering CPR.

“Perfusion is your blood getting to all the parts of your body,” says Cpt. Hague. “When we are doing CPR in the field, our goal is to maintain that profusion because profusion, especially to the brain, is what’s going to help you see tomorrow.”

Cpt. Hague says CPR is pretty simple. The most important thing he wants people to know is that chest compressions are the key to survival.

“We spend no more than 10 seconds checking to see if they have a pulse and to see if they’re breathing or not,” says Cpt. Hague. “If neither one of those things are present within 10 seconds, get your hands on top of each other, palm to the back on another hand, center of the chest and just start pushing.”

You’ve probably heard it before, but Cpt. Hague says compressions to the beat of the song ‘Staying Alive’ is a good pace.

He says time is of the essence in these situations.

“If a lay person or civilian happens to see somebody go down and they realize they don’t have a heartbeat and they’re not breathing, if they can get to them and just start doing the compressions for the few minutes it takes for us to get there, that would tremendously increase that person’s opportunity of surviving that event,” says the fire captain.

We saw CPR in action during the Monday night football game when Damar Hamlin went down. Cpt. Hague says the health officials did exactly the right thing.

“The fact that there were so many people that were there and their first thought was ‘we’ve got to start compressions until other people can come and start putting in their extra tools’ I’m sure that provided him a much better outcome,” says Cpt. Hague.

If you want to learn more about CPR or get certified, there are plenty of resources in our area including the Red Cross, the American Heart Association, and the CPR Academy.

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