Rescuers use AED and CPR to save heart attack victim in nick of time

Life-savers: Lim (centre) handling the AED as other rescue team members work to save the badminton player lying on the ground.

GEORGE TOWN: Lim Meng Jin had just finished dinner when he received news via text message that a man collapsed while playing badminton nearby.

A chill went through him. He knew the player suffered sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and there was only four minutes to save him.

He rushed to a bus stop near Rifle Range Flats in Ayer Itam, which is just 50m away from the badminton hall, to pick up an automated external defibrillator (AED).

Lim, a Civil Defence Force (Southwest District) member, felt a wave of relief wash over him when he saw someone actively giving the SCA victim cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

He knew then that his chance of saving the man was much higher.

“I followed the voice commands of the AED,” he said.

By attaching the sensor pads of the AED to an SCA victim’s chest, the machine will read the victim’s heart rhythm and determine if an electric shock is needed.

It will tell everyone present not to touch the person before delivering the shock, meant to “reset” the person’s heart rhythm.

“He was clinically dead at the scene. We brought him back to life and he is now warded at the coronary care unit of the hospital,” said Lim when contacted.

Recalling the incident last Tuesday, Lim believed that the 42-year-old victim might have died if not for the presence of public awareness on the importance of performing CPR and using AED.

“He was saved because those around him knew how to do CPR within the ‘golden’ time, which is less than four minutes after he collapsed,” he said.

Penang Heart Safe Society president Datuk Dr Luah Lean Wah said time was of essence in such incidents as brain cells start to die after four minutes without oxygen.

“The man was lucky to have people who knew how to do CPR on him immediately.

“CPR takes over the normal heart function and continues to send oxygenated blood to all vital organs, especially the brain.

“The AED’s function is to ‘stun’ the heart and make sure the chaotic movements of the heart stop and normal heart functions resume,” she explained.

She added that the AED installed at the bus stop that Lim used was donated by Lions Club of George-town Central, and there are more than 160 publicly accessibly AEDs all over Penang.

Dr Luah urged badminton halls and any other sports centres to instal an AED at their premises.

She stressed that when a person is clinically “dead’ with no pulse, no breathing and no blood pressure, the only chance of survival is to have someone perform CPR on the person and use an AED.

“SCA is due to sudden acute electrical disturbances of the heart. It induces a chaotic movement of the heart that is not able to pump blood.

“The most common cause of SCA is heart attack, which accounted for between 50% and 60% of cases.

“Other possible causes can be electrocution, infection, drugs, electrolyte disturbance and others,” she said.