Living for Zachary has attended over 275 community awareness events all over Texas. We host a number of different educational events throughout the year in hopes to spread awareness to local communities about sudden cardiac arrest in youth. The main reason we love to attend other events hosted by other organizations is mainly because you can never learn enough about SCA and heart health. There is so much information and connections out there in our heart world and learning about it all is truly an eye opening experience!
We recently attended an event at Medical City Children’s Hospital. The event was called Code Blue: A SIM Demonstration and was put on by an outstanding woman named Loan McDuffie. The event was a fun gathering of doctors, nurses, moms, dads and many others who take part in the heart community. The event began with a dramatic live demonstration of in-hospital sudden cardiac arrest. The doctor was racing around the room directing orders to prepare to save the young person’s (manikins) life. The nurses all had their specific posts they were in charge of, some were pushing meds, one was performing CPR, and others stayed close by incase other orders were to be given. The whole room of medical professionals were doing everything in their power to save this child’s life. Thankfully, the medical staff all performed their duties to the top expectations and their success revived the child. Watching this demonstration was educational on many different levels. We got to witness what happens when the prevention of Sudden Cardiac Arrest is ignored. It reminded us just how important it is to practice all types of prevention; knowing the signs and symptoms, getting your heart screened, becoming CPR certified and making sure that all facilities are equipped with an automated external defibrillator (AED). All of these steps to prevention are capable of saving a life.
As for the amazing woman who put this educational community event together, Loan. She has decided to make it her mission for Medical City Children’s Hospital to have a Simulation Lab for in-hospital Sudden Cardiac Arrest. This would be a place where doctors and nurses could come to refresh their practice by participating in a simulation, it is also a great place to host events for educational purposes for people of all ages. All in all the event was AWESOME and we love what Medical City Children’s and Loan are doing for the youth heart community.
We also had a little fun and participated in the CPR contest. Of course, we’ve had some practice!
The live in-hospital sudden cardiac arrest demonstration!
