‘Be the Beat’: American Heart Month CPR training

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — After America watched Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin go down on the field last month, the American Heart Association teamed up with the athlete to show the life-saving importance of learning CPR during American Heart Month in February and challenged all to “Be the Beat” and learn hands-on CPR training, to help potentially save a life.

“By performing immediate CPR you can double or triple a person’s chances of survival,” said John Potvin, who’s with the East Providence Fire Department and an American Heart Association board member.

“For every minute CPR is not performed your chance of survival decrease by 10%,” Potvin said.

Wednesday, ABC 6 News accepted that challenge and we were trained by Potvin on how to do compressions.

According to the American Heart Association, more than 350,000 people suffer from cardiac arrest in the United States each year. And about 70% of cardiac arrests happen outside of the hospital, with 90% of those resulting in death. That means being trained to act properly in those situations can prove to be lifesaving.

Just last month, Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on the field. Throughout the month of February, Hamlin has teamed up with the American Heart Association with a challenge of his own.

The three steps, as explained on Heart.org, include watching a quick training video on what to do if you see someone in cardiac arrest.

The two steps include calling 911 and then starting to administer compressions, by putting one hand in the middle of the person’s chest and intertwine it with your other hand above and do compressions at 100 to 120 beats per minute, which aligns with the beat to the song “Stayin’ Alive.”

Then, you can also donate to the Heart Association to fund CPR education and training.