Saved from Cardiac Arrest, hotel employee donates an AED to Singapore Cancer Society
Sponsored Article by HTM Medico
When sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) strikes, it is often deadly. It strikes without warning in the most unexpected situations, regardless of your age, gender and lifestyle.
An employee of Royal Plaza on Scotts (who wished not to be disclosed) was grateful to his fellow colleagues, who saved him when he collapsed with an effective combination of HeartSine Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR).
On 25th November 2018, the employee was found lying motionless in the back office at 07.51am with no signs of breathing and heartbeat. The security team was immediately alerted of the incident
and dispatched one of the first aider to the scene. Witnessing that it is a sudden cardiac arrest, the first aider quickly called for an AED from the Fire Command Centre and performed CPR instantly prior to the arrival of AED.
When done correctly, CPR prevents irreversible brain damage by applying chest compressions at the depth of 4 – 6cm and a rate of 100/min in order to pump oxygenated blood supply to the vital
organs.
A victim’s chance of survival can increase from 6% to 74% if proper CPR and AED defibrillation is administered within the first 4 – 6 minutes of collapse. Without it, the chance of survival of the victim will drop by 7%–10% every minute.
Fortunately, the first aider acquired the AED within minutes, apply CPR continuously and delivered a total of 5 shocks before the paramedics took over. At 08.27am, the employee was rushed to the Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
On 6th December 2018, the employee was discharged from hospital after recovering from the traumatic event.
Forward Hearts – A gift from the heart
He suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and was fortunate to have an automated external defibrillator (AED) to his rescue.
As part of an initiative by manufacturer HeartSine called “Forward Hearts”, which allows survivors of sudden cardiac arrest who were saved using HeartSine AEDs, to donate an AED to any organisation of their choice.
The survivor has decided to donate a HeartSine AED to Singapore Cancer Society in hope that an AED will be available to help save someone’s life during sudden cardiac arrest emergencies.
Singapore Cancer Society is a self-funded voluntary welfare organisation which provides screening and patient care services to needy cancer patients through its welfare, hospice home care, cancer treatment subsidy and rehabilitation support programmes.
Singapore Cancer Society is grateful for being selected as the donation recipient and expressed their gratitude, “Thank you for your generosity!”.
