When a person goes into cardiac arrest, every moment counts. And fewer than 40% of us feel able to step in. When Tony suddenly collapsed while out running, he was lucky enough to be surrounded by people equipped to help. Now, those at the Resuscitation Council hope their new animation will prepare even more of us.
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00:00 Yeah, so I was out running with my local running club, Stamford Striders, and we had a break
00:09 after 10 minutes and I was chatting with a friend and then I suddenly collapsed. My head
00:17 hit the ground, I had a fractured skull and my heart stopped.
00:20 Luckily, other members of Tony's running club included medical professionals who knew the
00:25 importance of acting quickly, starting CPR and running to find the nearest defibrillator.
00:31 I think I'm very fortunate that everyone reacted very quickly and even starting the CPR, I
00:37 know that that helps push oxygen through all of your vital organs. So, even having no CPR
00:43 for a limited time would have had a massive impact on the way that I am. I consider myself
00:49 to still be fairly normal, but then getting the defibrillator back and that intervention,
00:55 stopping the CPR, that is a real benefit. And obviously, I mentioned that the ambulance
01:00 arrived five minutes later, so all the time that was saved was a real benefit to me.
01:06 Hello there, I'm James Cairn, I'm the Chief Executive of Resuscitation Council UK. When
01:11 we talk about a cardiac arrest, we call it the ultimate medical emergency because it
01:15 is. The person's heart has stopped and oxygenated blood is no longer being pumped to the brain.
01:21 If we wait until the paramedics come, it will almost always be too late. So, the key first
01:26 moments, seconds that really determine somebody's outcome are dictated by what people around
01:32 them do.
01:33 The longer it takes for a cardiac arrest patient to receive treatment, the less likely it is
01:38 that they will survive. The British Heart Foundation found one death in every 12 patients
01:43 could be prevented when they were treated within the recommended time of less than 90
01:48 minutes. But research from the Resuscitation Council has found we're woefully underprepared
01:53 for the worst to happen.
01:54 Some people freeze and do nothing and wait for the paramedics. Other people have got
01:58 a concern that they may make the situation worse. And what we say is you cannot make
02:02 the situation worse. If the person's heart has stopped, they have effectively died in
02:06 front of you, and all we can do is give them the best chance of life and actually make
02:11 the situation better. So, chest compressions are an absolutely key to maintaining that
02:16 link to life. Always continue the chest compressions. But if you can get somebody to get a defib,
02:21 get the defib on them. As soon as you open the defib and switch it on, it starts talking
02:26 to you. It's an amazing piece of kit, really simple, really clever. It actually tells you
02:30 what to do.
02:31 That's why they've launched Defib Danny, a handy tool that they believe will save hundreds
02:36 of lives. The 80-second cartoon animation aims to give people the confidence to use
02:41 this life-saving device during a cardiac arrest.
02:45 It's really an attempt to make them familiar in terms of the fact that it can be used,
02:50 to bring it to life in that way, and to start conversations, whether it's in the family
02:54 context, whether it's in the classroom, in that way, to make people in that situation,
03:00 in that emergency, to make their tipping point to do something, not to do nothing.