A beautiful morning …Faint chirping of birds…golden rays of sunshine…. dewdrops over green grass….all signify a new inning.
It was a similar morning when 77 year old Prem Nath set out on a morning walk alone that fateful day in Mumbai , but halfway through just collapsed when he reached Carter Road, Bandra .
A resident Samir Firasta, who spotted Nath during his morning walk, saw that he had completely stopped breathing and was lying listless. He immediately started giving CPR to Nath and asked a bystander to fetch an machine that was installed at the nearby Otters Club. Once the machine arrived, he used the AED to deliver the shock which revived Mr Nath and he started breathing. He was immediately taken to the hospital by Mr Samir where he recovered and was sent home safe and sound. He calls Mr Samir his Life saver and says he owes his very existence to him.
What would have happened if no one had responded like Mr Samir did? What if the Aed was not readily available? How would you feel if you were a witness to a similar incident and wanted to save the person’s life but didn’t know how to?
To be an effective life saver, it is important to first understand the actual medical cause of the life threatening incident: Cardiac Arrest
Sudden cardiac arrest occurs when the heart stops beating suddenly, affecting the flow of blood to brain and other vital Organs. If the heart is not revived within 4 minutes of a cardiac arrest, brain death is inevitable.
During this scenario we have to immediately administer CPR(Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) to the victim .CPR is an emergency procedure that combines chest compressions often with AED electrical shock in an effort to manually preserve the brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person who has suffered a cardiac arrest.