Although CPR/AED Awareness Week is the first week of June, Cazbah in conjunction with its customer, Cardiac Life Products, is training and certifying its employees on CPR and AED.  Why have we decided to do this at Cazbah?  In October 2010 I participated in the Black Diamond Duathlon in Victor NY.  The Duathlon is a challenging race that requires participants to run 2 miles, bike 10 miles, and run 2 miles most of which is off road.  The events of this race led me on a path to seek training for CPR and to see how many others I could get to participate.  Here is my story:

On the day of this event I was standing at the starting line where the event coordinator announced that none of the participants were to have cell phones, ipods, or anything with headphones.  I quickly ripped off my headphones but decided to keep my iPhone with me.  I started the race strong with the two mile run but once I got on my bike things started to slow down for me.  I was not having a good ride.  It seemed like everyone was passing me.  Finally I got to the transition area for my final two mile run.  My legs felt like stone but I trudged on.  The last two miles took me down a narrow trail through some woods.  At this point there were runners passing me in the other direction on their way to the finish line.  About a ½ mile into my final two miles another runner and I came across a middle-aged man lying in the middle of the trail unconscious.

After failing to get a response from the fallen man I handed my iPhone to the other runner and told him to call 911.  While 911 was triangulating our position through my phone a wave of despair hit me.  I was pretty sure this man had gone into Cardiac Arrest but I could do nothing about it because I had not been trained in CPR.  I could feel him fading and it seemed like he was about to die in my arms.  Then after what seemed like an eternity a cardiac nurse, who was running in the race, came upon us and immediately started CPR.  While she was administering CPR an Ontario County Sherriff who was directing traffic for the event showed up at the scene with an AED  (Automated External Defibrillator) and attached it to the victim.  The AED shocked the man and the AED unit told the nurse and two other runners, who were trained in CPR and had shown up on the scene, to continue administering CPR.  Shortly after this we were able to get the victim off the trail to an ambulance that was waiting to take the victim to the hospital.

This gentleman spent a couple days in a medical induced coma and had a couple stents put in to his arteries.  After being brought out of his coma he has made a slow but steady recovery.  More details about this victim and this story can be found on The Messenger Post Newspaper website.

After participating in this intense experience I decided that I never wanted to have that awful feeling of helplessness again.  I told my story to one of my customers, Cardiac Life Products, who told me they would be happy to train me on CPR.  In fact they would be willing to train anyone at Cazbah who is interested.  The Cazbah Management team quickly embraced the idea and encouraged me to tell my story on the company blog and to set aside some time in our busy work day to get certified in CPR / AED.  When completed there will be 10 Cazbah employees who will be trained and certified in CPR and on AED operation.

I hope this story moves you to get trained in CPR and even on an AED.  Chances are you will get to use that training at least once in your life.  Please don’t be a helpless bystander.  I can tell you that it is not a good feeling.

Cardiac Life Products Training Resources

• Web Site – Cardiac Life Products
• Email – cardiaclife@nysaed.com
• Phone – 866-710-1970

Cardiac Life Products
Bob Wynne describing the CPR and AED products and services
from Cardiac Life Products and why they are so important.