ST. LOUIS — Doctors want to see more people learn CPR and how to use AED machines.
The conversation came to the national forefront after Buffalo Bills football player Damar Hamlin collapsed after going into cardiac arrest on Monday night football.
Dr. Khaled Awad said the situation was a best-case scenario for this tragedy.
"(There was an) AED on the field, having trained paramedics trained physicians who can resuscitate immediately."
The blow to Damar Hamlin's chest at precisely the wrong time in the cardiac cycle caused an electrical abnormality in the heart resulting in an irregular heart rhythm that cannot pump blood to the body, according to the Red Cross.
"The heart's electric system is really what enables that beautiful machine to perform the way we know," Awad said. "If the heart's electric system malfunctions for any reason, like your cell phone if you take a chip out, take anything out it will not function."
The Red Cross trains thousands across the country. Mercy Health in St. Louis also teaches families these life-saving skills.
"If you've never done it before, put your hand on the sternum and push," Awad said. "We want people to do about 100 times a minute."
If it happens to someone, time is of the essence.
"The brain is the most concern," Dr. Awad said. "It is the most vulnerable organ in the body to loss of blood flow coming from the heart. CPR buys you precious minutes"
There are an estimated 350,000-plus cardiac arrests outside a hospital in the U.S. each year. Ninety percent of people who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests die. Bystanders perform CPR less than 50% of the time according to the American Heart Association.