After Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest, there's new urgency to get AEDs in schools
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
When Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed earlier this month, an automated external defibrillator - or AED - helped save his life. Since then, there's been a surge of interest in the devices, and trainings have become more popular, especially in schools. Blake Farmer of member station WPLN in Nashville reports.
BLAKE FARMER, BYLINE: A handful of states already require public schools to have an AED. And here in Tennessee, they're also supposed to conduct a drill each year, though the rule is not enforced. Nashville's Shwab Elementary has had an AED on the wall for years, but this drill is a first.
CHERYL BOWMAN: The response team is needed in the hallway outside of the gym.
FARMER: Principal Cheryl Bowman tells everyone else over the intercom to shelter in place. If this were a real sudden cardiac arrest, they don't want young kids to see it all go down or get in the way of the paramedics. A dummy lies face down on the tile floor. A teacher sprints down the hallway and arrives within 30 seconds to start CPR compressions. Another teacher bolts up a flight of stairs from the office, toting the dictionary-sized AED, and boots it up.
COMPUTER-GENERATED VOICE: Begin by removing all clothing from the patient.
FARMER: This battery-powered device can shock a heart back to life, and it tells you precisely what to do.
COMPUTER-GENERATED VOICE: Place pad exactly as shown in the picture. Press firmly to patient's bare skin.
FARMER: Speed is key, and the machine won't hurt a patient. It senses if they need a shock or not.
COMPUTER-GENERATED VOICE: No one should touch the patient. Shock advised.
FARMER: Teachers continue trading off with chest compressions as they wait for help to arrive, and the drill winds down after just 5 minutes.
ANGEL CARTER: Guys, good job. How do you feel?
FARMER: Nurse Angel Carter is here from Vanderbilt Children's Hospital to help conduct the school's inaugural drill. She helps school districts throughout the region draw up AED response plans. This team gave the first shock in time to be very effective.
CARTER: We've got 3 to 5 minutes to provide a good response. And paramedics rarely can be somewhere in 3 to 5 minutes, so it's up to us to take care of that person.
FARMER: All month, Carter says she's been fielding 20 emails a day, many from school administrators newly interested in setting up a drill. Nationwide, roughly 1 in 70 high schools a year will have a sudden cardiac arrest, according to a Washington University study. They're usually related to athletic events. But the AED used recently as millions watched an NFL game has increased awareness far more than any study, says Dr. English Flack. She's a regional medical director for Project ADAM, named for a teenager in Wisconsin who collapsed and died.
ENGLISH FLACK: The beautiful outcome of the response for Damar Hamlin is that his life was not only saved, but the awareness that it's created is going to just multiply exponentially.
FARMER: Since 1999, the nonprofit says AEDs at its partner sites, mostly schools, have saved more than 200 lives. Most states still don't require AEDs in schools. In Virginia, State Senator Jeremy McPike is renewing his proposal for a mandate. He says students in Virginia are already supposed to learn CPR and how to use an AED.
JEREMY MCPIKE: All that is already on the books, except for the key ingredient - the most lifesaving ingredient - which is the AED.
FARMER: Even where AEDs are required, there's more to learn. At Shwab Elementary in Nashville, the drill reveals their machine probably needs to be stored on the second floor, where most students and teachers are during the day, putting an AED that much closer to the lives it may be used to save.
For NPR News, I'm Blake Farmer in Nashville.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
Baada ya Damar Hamlin kushikwa na mshtuko wa moyo, kuna dharura mpya ya kupata AEDs katika shule Lela Fadell, mwenyeji: Wakati usalama wa Buffalo Bills Damar Hamlin alianguka mapema mwezi huu, defibrillator ya nje ya kiotomatiki - au AED - ilisaidia kuokoa maisha yake. Tangu wakati huo, kumekuwa na ongezeko la maslahi katika vifaa, na mafunzo yamekuwa maarufu zaidi, hasa katika shule. Blake Farmer wa kituo cha wanachama WPLN huko Nashville ripoti. Miongoni mwa majimbo kadhaa, shule za umma zinahitaji kuwa na AED. Na hapa Tennessee, wao pia wanapaswa kufanya mazoezi kila mwaka, ingawa sheria haitekelezi. Shule ya Shwab Elementary ya Nashville imekuwa na AED kwenye ukuta kwa miaka, lakini mazoezi haya ni ya kwanza. CHERYL BOWMAN: Timu ya majibu inahitajika katika ukumbi nje ya mazoezi ya mwili. Mwalimu Cheryl Bowman anawaambia wengine wote kupitia intercom kujificha mahali. Ikiwa hii ilikuwa mshtuko wa moyo wa ghafla, hawataki watoto wadogo waone yote yakitokea au kupata njia ya wagonjwa. Mwanasesere amelala uso chini kwenye sakafu ya vigae. Mwalimu wa shule ya sekondari anaingia kwenye chumba cha kulala na kuanza kutoa msaada wa moyo. Mwalimu mwingine anapanda ngazi kutoka ofisini, akichukua kifaa hicho cha kuagiza ambacho ni kikubwa kama kamusi, na kukiweka juu. SIKU: Mwanzo, mgonjwa anapaswa kuondolewa nguo zake zote. Kifaa hiki kinachotumia betri kinaweza kuamsha moyo na kukuambia hasa unachohitaji kufanya. SIKU: Weka pad kama inavyoonyeshwa kwenye picha. Bonyeza kwa nguvu kwenye ngozi ya mgonjwa. Kasi ni muhimu, na mashine haitaumiza mgonjwa. Inajua kama wanahitaji mshtuko au la. Sauti ya Kompyuta: Hakuna mtu anayepaswa kumgusa mgonjwa. Mshtuko unashauriwa. Mwalimu anaendelea kufanya mazoezi ya kuvuta kifua huku akingojea msaada, na mazoezi hayo yanaisha baada ya dakika tano tu. Angel Carter: Guys, kazi nzuri. Unahisije? Mwalimu Angel Carter, kutoka Hospitali ya Watoto ya Vanderbilt, amekuja kusaidia kufanya mazoezi ya kufungua shule. Msaada wa shule za wilaya katika eneo hilo kutengeneza mipango ya majibu ya AED Timu hii ilitoa mshtuko wa kwanza kwa wakati kuwa na ufanisi sana. """Tuna dakika tatu hadi tano za kutoa jibu." Kwa hivyo, kwa sababu wagonjwa wa kawaida hawawezi kufika kwa muda wa dakika 3 hadi 5, ni muhimu kuwa na uwezo wa kuwaokoa. Carter anasema amekuwa akipokea barua pepe 20 kwa siku, nyingi kutoka kwa wasimamizi wa shule ambao wamependezwa na kuanzisha mazoezi. Katika nchi nzima, karibu 1 katika shule za sekondari 70 kwa mwaka itakuwa na mshtuko wa moyo wa ghafla, kulingana na utafiti wa Chuo Kikuu cha Washington. Kwa kawaida zinahusiana na mashindano ya riadha. "AED iliyotumiwa hivi karibuni wakati mamilioni ya watu walipoangalia mchezo wa NFL imeongeza ufahamu zaidi kuliko utafiti wowote, ""anasema Dk English Flack." Mkurugenzi wa Idara ya Afya ya Mkoa wa Project ADAM, jina lake lilitokana na kijana mmoja wa Wisconsin ambaye alianguka na kufa. "Mfano wa Damar Hamlin, ambaye aliwahi kuwa na umri wa miaka kumi na sita, alisema: ""Uhai wake haukuokolewa tu, lakini ufahamu uliotengenezwa na hilo utaongezeka kwa kasi.""" Tangu mwaka 1999, shirika hilo la kutojifaidi limesema vifaa vya kuokoa uhai vilivyowekwa katika vituo vya washirika wake, hasa shule, vimeokoa maisha ya watu zaidi ya 200. Nchi nyingi bado hazihitaji AEDs katika shule. Seneta wa jimbo la Virginia Jeremy McPike ametoa pendekezo la kuanzisha chama cha Republican. "Mwanafunzi wa chuo kikuu cha Virginia amekuwa akijifunza ""CPR"" na jinsi ya kutumia AED." "Jerry McPhee: ""Kila kitu tayari kiko kwenye vitabu, isipokuwa kiungo muhimu - kiungo kinachookoa maisha zaidi - ambacho ni AED." Hata kama AED inahitajika, kuna mengi ya kujifunza. Shwab Elementary, Nashville, Marekani, imesema kuwa mashine hiyo inapaswa kuhifadhiwa kwenye ghorofa ya pili, ambapo wanafunzi na walimu wengi wako wakati wa mchana, na hivyo kuwa karibu zaidi na maisha ya watu wanaotakiwa kuokolewa. NPR News: Blake Farmer, kutoka Nashville (Kutoka kwa NPR) (Kutoka kwa NPR) (Kutoka kwa NPR)