Cardiac Arrest Survivor Donates Defibrillator to Disabled Riders after Beating Odds at Racing Track

Jan. 21, 2016 - PRLog -- Mr. Khoo Teng Guang of Singapore will donate a HeartSine® Automated External Defibrillator (AED) to a local nonprofit after beating the odds when he survived a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) at the Singapore Turf Club (http://www.turfclub.com.sg/Pages/Homepage.aspx).

The lifesaving AED to be donated to the Riding for the Disabled Association of Singapore (RDA) (http://rdasingapore.org/) is part of HeartSine’s Forward Hearts (http://heartsine.com/forward-hearts/) program, which enables a survivor of an SCA event in which a HeartSine device has been used, to donate an AED to the organization of their choice at no cost.

RDA Singapore is the only nonprofit organization in Singapore that provides free horse riding therapy to children and adults with disabilities. The disabilities that benefit from the organization’s horse riding therapy include a wide range of physical and cognitive disabilities.

The 49-year-old man chose to donate the HeartSine samaritan® PAD 500P (http://heartsine.com/product/p/rest-of-world/500p/) (SAM 500P) AED to RDA Singapore because it will add a level of security to the facility by protecting the disabled horse riders and staff in the event of an SCA, an often life-threatening condition in which a person’s heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating.

“I am so grateful to the rescuers and to the Turf Club for having an AED present during my Sudden Cardiac Arrest,” says Teng Guang.  “I am fortunate to have the opportunity to donate an AED to RDA Singapore, where it will potentially save the lives of its riders, both young and old.”

On the day of his SCA, Teng Guang collapsed suddenly at the Turf Club, where a bystander immediately notified security officers. Senior Security Officers (SSO) Hasan and Chok followed the SCA safety measure protocol, with SSO Chok performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on Teng Guang while SSO Hasan retrieved the nearby HeartSine AED. Teng Guang received one shock from the AED and was kept in stable condition until the ambulance arrived and transported him to the hospital, where he made a full recovery.

“This incident is a great illustration of the importance of knowing CPR and having AEDs in all public places,” says Hugh Hennessy, Physio-Control Business Director, HeartSine Portfolio, EMEA. “With over three quarters of SCA events taking place outside of the healthcare setting, the need for AEDs is critical to the safety of the public.”

Studies of lay rescuer AED programs show that when CPR and defibrillators are both correctly used during an SCA event, survival rates could potentially increase to over 75%, which is up from 5% without intervention.

The SAM 500P defibrillator that saved Teng Guang’s life reassures rescuers with real-time feedback on CPR compressions, providing both verbal and visual indications for “Good Compressions” or “Push Harder,” “Push Faster” and “Push Slower.”

The HeartSine AED equipped at the Singapore Turf Club was sold by HeartSine’s Authorized Distributor in Singapore, HTM Medico Pte Ltd.

About HeartSine Technologies

HeartSine Technologies, a world leader in public access defibrillators, advances the deployment of lifesaving defibrillation therapy for the treatment of Sudden Cardiac Arrest in non-traditional areas of care. HeartSine was acquired by emergency medical response company Physio-Control (http://www.physio-control.com/) in September 2015.

The company’s products include a range of semi-automatic and fully-automatic samaritan® PAD AEDs.  Its flagship product, the samaritan PAD 500P, is the only AED to provide verbal, visual and audio feedback to a rescuer on the force and rate of compressions ensuring high quality CPR is continuously performed – all using only the electrode pads.

HeartSine, active in over 70 countries worldwide and used in a wide range of environments, is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland and Newtown, Pennsylvania. To learn how a HeartSine AED can save lives, please visit http://www.heartsine.com or follow HeartSine on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/HeartSine) and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/HeartSine).