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.
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