Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest a grim reminder of importance of CPR training, says DeKalb firefighter, paramedic

DeKALB – A startling moment during a Monday Night Football game last week that left Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin in cardiac arrest offered a grim reminder of the importance of CPR trainings, DeKalb firefighter Noah Millard said.

Millard is the president of the DeKalb Fire Fighters Local 1236 union. He said Hamlin’s harrowing experience that caused the NFL to pause and later cancel the matchup between the Bills and Cincinnati Bengals piqued community interest on the topic.

“I have had four people reach out to me – community leaders in different venues – and they have said, ‘What do we need to do? I’ve always been wanting to do this. What do we need to do to get a CPR class?’ ” Millard said.

The DeKalb Lt. firefighter and paramedic said sudden cardiac arrest, such as what Damar Hamlin experienced, is a common occurrence that first responders deal with on calls for service.

“It is absolutely something that happens on a regular basis that we see in the field that we treat,” Millard said.

The 24-year-old Hamlin tackled Bengals receiver Tee Higgins, got to his feet and then fell unconscious. Hamlin was released from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center on Monday. Hamlin now heads to Buffalo General Medical Center for further treatment.

According to the American Heart Association, the causes for cardiac arrest may include any known heart condition, high blood pressure, recreational drug use, blood vessel and electrical abnormalities, thickened heart muscle and scarring of heart tissue.

Millard stressed that cardiac arrest is more common than people may think, and youth is not always a deterrent.

“It doesn’t mean that it has to be an old person,” Millard said. “We’ve had younger people that it has affected that we went on calls to. … A primary part of that is those pre-existing issues, conditions, let’s say. With that, how do we encourage a healthier lifestyle, whatever it may be along with that, to try to obviously deter those? But when we do have them, we have the people hopefully that we’ve trained that have at least a basic understanding of what they can do to help.”

Millard said he knew all too well how critical the emergency response was that unfolded after Hamlin collapsed when his heart stopped beating.

“We understand from our perspective obviously [in] the first responder, paramedic realm and what that means when a bystander … immediately jumps into action and starts to do CPR such as was done on Mr. Hamlin,” Millard said. “Ultimately, that gives that person the best chance at survival.”

Community program encourages prepping for worst case scenario

The fire department is taking the opportunity to remind the community about its program to help distribute Automatic External Defibrillators to DeKalb businesses and organizations. The program offers a 50-50 grant match, helping aid area groups and organizations with funds to help buy the equipment.

The AED machines are critical to help aid a person’s chances at surviving cardiac arrest. The machines can aid CPR and provide an electric shock to a person’s heart if it’s stopped beating, and can help identify what shock is needed to return the heart to its original rhythm.

The DeKalb Fire Department has over the years acquired machines that perform CPR, and Millard said they have proven to be worth the investment.

“It feels personally like we have had better results. I would say probably the last five years,” Millard said. “Before then, we did manual CPR like you saw [with Hamiln]. Now we have a machine that does CPR for us, which obviously is battery-powered [and] does not tire out.”

In 2022, the local fire fighters union started the matching grant program to equip five area businesses and organizations with their own AED equipment.

The union is committed to supplying at least another five grant awardees with their very own AED equipment in 2023, Millard said.

Millard said the union is open to sponsorship opportunities should businesses and organizations want to help make AEDs more widely available in the community.

Millard said the union has lofty expectations for the health of the community.

“Our goal is to be recognized as a ‘Heart Safe Community,’ " Millard said. “We have some work to do. But I think we can do it. I’m excited that our local [union] and our membership has put their money where their mouth is to be able to help get this going.”

“A Heart Safe Community” is an accreditation that recognizes communities based on, among other things, their availability of CPR training and AED equipment.

The union offers both AED and CPR trainings on a request basis, officials said.

One such union member wants to ensure the larger community has the needed equipment and also the knowledge to put it to use in an emergency.

“Our Fire Chief, Mike Thomas, has said that anybody that we do give the 50% match for the AED grant and others, he would like to ramp up our hands-only CPR training and our AED training within the community,” Millard said.

Millard stressed that bystanders don’t have to be certified in order to help other people who are in need.

He said a bystander can play a significant part in whether a person survives cardiac arrest.

“We don’t need to be breathing mouth to mouth on a person because that takes away from good quality CPR,” Millard said. “Because of good, high quality CPR that they are actually getting some oxygenation enough for survivability until first responders can get there and start to do the more advanced things that can be done to help somebody who’s not breathing at the time.”

Millard said it brings members of the union comfort knowing that there are bystanders who are willing to step up in an emergency situation until first responders arrive at the scene.

“We have bystanders that jump in who started doing those things,” Millard said. “Some of them were medically-trained. Some were not. Some had no clue. Some had zero medical training and just did what they thought was the right thing, and it truly saved a person’s life.”