Health

HE A LTH • Spring 2022 9 the heart as its symbol could become the best place for other communities to look to, for how to deal with out-of-hos- pital, cardiac disease," Sabato said. Bystander CPR and CPR certification are two different entities. While the for- mal certification of CPR training is always preferred, Sabato advocates everyone at least learn how to adminis- ter hands-only bystander CPR, which can be taught in 15 minutes and focuses on sustaining someone in cardiac arrest long enough until a person who is CPR certified arrives. The Good Samaritan Law in Massachusetts legally protects the general public from being sued if they administer first aid, CPR, and defi- brillators during emergency situations. Sudden cardiac arrest legislation For the past three years, Sabato has been working with Allyson Perron Drag, the government relations director and regional lead of the American Heart Association, to pass legislation while spreading public awareness about bystander CPR and publicly accessible defibrillators. Massachusetts passed an Act Relative to the Emergency Medical Service System in 2000 with its regulations established in 2010, which requires that emergency dispatchers give CPR instructions, Perron Drag said. However, the new bill focuses on improving the training of dispatchers so they can provide accurate and effi- cient directions without hesitation. "For us, the most important part is how fast can you get hands on the chest, right? We want to make sure EMS is called and dispatched, but they can take 10 to 15 minutes to get to somebody, and that would be too late for somebody that has suffered sudden cardiac arrest," she said. "So part of the bill would look to ensure that kind of quality around what we call T-CPR" or telecommunicator CPR. The new bill had momentum in the 2021 legislative session, when the COVID-19 pandemic took priority, leaving bills such as this on the back- burner, said Perron Drag. However, the bill is being reviewed by the Joint Committee on Public Health, where it can then make its way to the Healthcare Finance Committee before being sent to the House or Senate. "There hasn't seemed to be people that have come out against it. There was some concerns on some language from the national organization associa- tion for telecommunicators. But we worked with them and suggested some amendments to the bill, and we were fine with them," she said. A new lease on life The reality of relying on a 911 opera- tor is something the Anderson family of Beverly is trying to relay to the public after 17-year-old son, Daniel, went into cardiac arrest on June 26, 2019. Daniel was playing basketball at a friend's house in Peabody when he suddenly collapsed and went into car- diac arrest. The friend's mother imme- diately called 911, where a dispatcher for the town's ambulance service pro- vided bystander CPR instructions over the phone. The friend's mother followed the dispatcher's directions and kept Daniel's heart going in those critical moments before the Peabody Fire Department arrived on scene with an automatic external defibrillator. Fortunately, Daniel survived and later had open heart surgery to correct a pre- viously undetected congenital heart defect. Since then, Daniel Anderson has gone on to graduate high school and begin his career journey as a plumber. After the traumatic event, the Andersons pledged their full support to the legislation and even testified in front of the Joint Committee of Public Chain of survival Every year, more than 350,000 Americans experience an out-of hospital cardiac arrest, and about 1 in 10 people survive. Successful resuscitation of cardiac arrest victims requires the time-sensitive, expert care described by each of the links in the chain of survival. 1. Early access to emergency medical services (EMS) 2. Early lay rescuer CPR 3. Early defibrillation 4. Early advanced care 5. Post-resuscitationcare to facilitate rehabilitation and recovery Note: The first two links in the chain, early access to EMS and lay rescuer CPR, provide the foundation for subsequent treatment and are critical for successful resuscitation. Source: American Heart Association Health. "Most people know to call 911 right away. That's, I think, ingrained in our culture. But the idea that the dispatcher may not understand how to do hands- only CPR instruction over the phone is a bit shocking to me. So if we can encourage this [legislation] along so that everybody receives the kind of care that Daniel received, it gives us all a lit- tle peace of mind," said Daniel's father, Kurt Anderson. Daniel's parents are forever grateful for the CPR intervention which saved his life, but they still face the PTSD and worries coming with almost losing a loved one. The Anderson family was so overwhelmed by this experience that they founded Ready to React, a CPR education organization seeking to teach the American Heart Association's hands-only bystander CPR. It was Daniel's first time visiting his friend's house that day when he went into cardiac arrest and according to Kurt, it was a series of miraculous events from the dispatcher instructing bystander CPR, to the friend's mother quickly reacting, and even an EMT who happened to be covering a shift and was already on the fire truck with a defibrillator, which all increased Daniel's chances of survival. "And those are just a few of [circum- stances]. There's at least a dozen more that have contributed to Daniel's suc- cess that make me still shake when I think of it, too. You know, I don't know what you believe in. But there's a reason why Daniel survived. And we kind of have chosen knowledge of CPR and response and people having the educa- tion they need to respond to an emer- gency to be our cause," Kurt said. More information can be found at the Anderson family's organization https://www.readytoreact.org/ or the American Heart Association at https:// www.heart.org/. A CPR training in January 2020 by the American Heart Association. Bystander CPR was used to save Daniel Anderson's life. H PHOTOS | COURTESY OF AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION PHOTO | COURTESY OF THE ANDERSON FAMILY

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