Paul Zambrotta, Mr. T Carting Safety Officer
Sudden cardiac arrest is a public health crisis. The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation reported that in the United States, in 2020, there were 356,361 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA). For adults, cardiac arrests mainly occur in the home (nearly 70%), approximately 19% occur in public, and about 11% occur in nursing homes.
These statistics are startling, which is why Mr. T Carting decided to act. Our employees work hard and often rely on one another for help. Whether driving one of our state-of-the-art vehicles, working at one of our facilities, or attending a meeting, a cardiac arrest could happen anywhere. If one of our valued employees suffered a sudden cardiac arrest, we want our employees to understand how to react appropriately, call for help, and employ Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) effectively so they can help save a life. We made the decision to train our employees on CPR not just because we depend on our employees to serve our customers; we know that our employees have families and friends that rely on them too. Fortunately, the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) has a program to help us to educate our employees on these lifesaving skills.
In total, 44 Mr. T Carting employees received CPR instruction in July and August 2021. Each time, the FDNY Mobile CPR Training Unit joined Mr. T Carting at our facility in Glendale to train our employees in both English and Spanish. The sessions were engaging, and FDNY ensured Mr. T Carting employees performed the procedures correctly.
Each training began with FDNY explaining the importance of learning CPR. Since most cardiac arrests occur at home, they explained that, most likely, we would be saving the life of a spouse, parent, child, or loved one. Although cardiac arrest can affect anyone, CPR may also help save the life of a coworker or customer. We learned that CPR could quadruple a person’s odds of surviving a cardiac arrest incident. Most importantly, we learned that every minute counts! Every minute a cardiac arrest victim goes without CPR, the chance of death increases by 10%.
FDNY taught us to recognize the signs of cardiac arrest and the importance of immediately activating the 911 system and giving the operator detailed instructions of the emergency location. With COVID-19 still a concern, the FDNY representative explained that we no longer need to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. They taught us to perform hand CPR, which involves only performing chest compressions. We then applied everything that the trainers taught us on the FDNY-provided CPR mannequins.
In addition to learning CPR, FDNY also trained all attendees to use one of the two Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) that Mr. T Carting recently installed in central areas at our facilities. In addition to CPR, an AED device can be used to help restart a heart in the case of cardiac arrest.
FDNY was pleased that Mr. T Carting offered this safety training course to our employees. Similarly, our employees were grateful that they learned these lifesaving skills. While a sudden cardiac arrest is something we hope no one has to deal with, the Mr. T leadership team is encouraged that these CPR and AED training sessions may one day help to save a life.
We urge all other employers in NYC to consider training their employees on CPR and installing an AED. If you want to learn more about FDNY’s Mobile CPR Training Unit, visit:
https://www.fdnyfoundation.org/initiatives/awareness-outreach/fdny-mobile-cpr-training-unit/.
To learn more about Mr. T Carting’s Services, please visit us online at www.MrTCarting.com, email us at CustomerService@MrTCarting.com, or call us at (718) 821-9706.
Mr. T Carting Corporation, 73-10 Edsall Ave, Glendale, NY 11385, BIC # 173