Fitness fanatic saves a life at a sports club and gets the ultimate workout

  • By Philips
  • August 08 2024
  • 2 min read

Sixty-year-old businessman, Mukesh Shah, was playing badminton with his brother, Rakesh; something they did daily. Meanwhile, 35-year-old fitness fanatic, Ravindra Bhattad, a banking professional from Mumbai, was busy working out just a few feet away.

At-a-glance:

  • Within a minute, Sixty-year-old businessman, Mukesh Shah lost consciousness and collapsed
  • Ravindra Bhattad realized that the symptoms were similar to Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) - the victim needed both Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and an AED shock instantly
  • Ravindra started CPR and after 2-3 minutes, club security arrived with the HeartStart FRx AED
Fitness fanatic saves a life at a sports club

The last I remembered, I was playing badminton game and then when I was lying in Ravindra’s car. Certainly without the AED, I would have died.

It was early morning December 2020 and the sports club in Mumbai, India was buzzing with people getting in their workouts

It was early morning on December 8, 2020 and the sports club in Mumbai, India was buzzing with people trying to get in their workouts. Sixty-year-old businessman, Mukesh Shah, was playing badminton with his brother, Rakesh; something they did daily. Meanwhile, 35-year old fitness fanatic, Ravindra Bhattad, a banking professional from Mumbai, was busy working out just a few feet away.

After the first badminton game, Mukesh took a break and sat on a chair because he started feeling uneasy. Within a minute, he lost consciousness and collapsed.

With the crowd gathering near him, Ravindra realized something was wrong. Upon seeing Mukesh lying on the ground and the futile attempts of other club goers to revive him by splashing water on his face and shaking his shoulders, Ravindra knew he needed to act quickly.

Instinct kicked in

“I realized that the symptoms were similar to Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) and that the victim needed both Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) shock instantly,” Ravindra explained.

Just a year earlier, he had taken an AED training course at his office and learned the symptoms of SCA. He quickly remembered what to do, calling for an ambulance and inquiring if there was a doctor in the club.

As luck would have it, the club had installed a few Philips HeartStart FRx AEDs a few months earlier. While waiting for the AED to arrive, Ravindra started CPR. After 2-3 minutes, club security arrived with the HeartStart FRx AED.

Ravindra said he was worried using the AED because it had been a year ago since he had seen one. But thanks to the self-learning feature on the HeartStart FRx AED, the device started communicating in simple, easy-to-follow steps for Ravindra to follow, making him feel very comfortable.

The AED instructed Ravindra to put the AED pads on Mukesh’s chest and continue CPR. Suddenly, the device announced, “Analyzing. Deliver shock now. Press the flashing orange button now.”

As Ravindra pressed the orange flashing button, a shock was delivered and he was instructed by the AED to continue CPR.

It was such a wonderful and simple device; it started prompting me at every step about the next step I need to take. This machine was so simple, safe and easy to use that anybody could have used it.

Ravindra Bhattad
Banking professional
Mumbai

Two times is the charm

After another two minutes, the AED started analyzing heart rhythm again and advised for second shock. After the second shock, Ravindra could immediately see some movement in Mukesh as he slowly regained consciousness.

Although he was starting to regain consciousness, Rakesh was concerned about his brother’s condition. With the ambulance not there yet, Ravindra decided to take Mukesh in his car to the nearest hospital.

HeartStart FRx AED: designed for the ordinary person in the extraordinary moment. After two days in the hospital and a two-week home recovery, Mukesh was back to work and feeling fine. He is grateful that he can continue spending time with his family and emphatically believes that every person should receive CPR/AED training, whatever their job may be.

Mukesh said he owes a debt of gratitude to Ravindra for saving his life. For his part, Ravindra said he was glad he was at the sports club that day and that the HeartStart FRx AED was nearby and provided step-by-step voice commands.

An SCA can happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime

Mukesh knows he’s lucky because the statistics are sobering.

  • The National Safety Council estimates that 40,000 more lives could be saved each year if AEDs were more widely available.1
  • About 90% of the people who suffer an SCA do not survive unless the right help (CPR with defibrillation) is provided right away.2
  • If CPR and AEDs are used immediately, five in 10 SCA victims could survive.3
  • When bystanders provide immediate CPR and the first shock from a defibrillator is delivered within three to five minutes,4 reported survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest triple.5

That’s why the sports club is so grateful they invested in the Philips HeartStart FRx AEDs

You may think you’ll never need an AED, and maybe you won’t, but it’s that one time you do have to use it that makes it worth every penny.

You may think you’ll never need an AED, and maybe you won’t, but it’s that one time you do have to use it that makes it worth every penny.

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Footnotes
  1. Greater Access to AEDs Could Save 40,000 Lives Each Year: National Safety Council.
  2. CPR Facts & Stats: How CPR is changing (and saving) lives, American Heart Association CPR & First Aid Emergency Cardiovascular Care, cpr.heart.org/en/resources/cpr-facts-and-stats
  3. About Sudden Cardiac Arrest: Sudden Cardiac Arrest: A Healthcare Crisis, Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, www.sca-aware.org/about-sca
  4. Part 4: The Automated External Defibrillator, American Heart Association, September 16, 2016.
  5. Response to Cardiac Arrest and Selected Life-Threatening Medical Emergencies, Mary Fran Hazinski; et al, American Heart Association, September 16, 2016.
Disclaimer
Results are specific to the institution where they were obtained and may not reflect the results achievable at other institutions. Results in other cases may vary.