My name is Javier Bautista, born and bred in Conejero. I have been working as a Cardiology resident at the University Hospital of Gran Canaria Dr Negrín (HUGCDN) for 4 years.
Last Thursday, Aythami, a 15-year-old boy who had suffered a cardiac arrest while playing football, was transferred to us from Lanzarote.
Being someone so young, and from Conejero, this case caught my attention a lot, even more when I found out that the boy played in the same team as me when I was a child, CD. O. Marítima.
From the beginning, even before receiving him, my colleagues and I were trying to presuppose, with the little data we had, what could have happened to him. However, the most important thing once stabilized would be the neurological evolution after the arrest.
Fortunately, just 24 hours after arriving at the ICU of the HUGCDN, he was able to be extubated and it was verified that there was no type of neurological sequelae, and after 48 hours he was already with us on the cardiology floor to complete the study.
Today Aythami returns home with a device implanted under his skin that would prevent possible recurrences.
I am sure that a good part of his evolution has been the result of the work of all the health workers who have intervened in one way or another. However, I have no doubt that if Aythami today is the same young man he was that afternoon playing football, it is thanks to the people who were there and who acted quickly and effectively.
These people resuscitated him and connected him to an AED (Automated Electrical Defibrillator) that applied 3 shocks, and returned the boy to an effective heart rhythm, prior to the arrival of the emergency personnel, who continued with the advanced resuscitation and transferred the boy to the Dr. Jose Molina Orosa hospital.
According to national records, of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, only 30% recover and arrive at the hospital, and only 7% are discharged without major neurological sequelae.
These percentages are clearly conditioned by the fact that the subjects have received cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers prior to the arrival of health personnel.
With this I would like to emphasize the importance of providing all institutions with AEDs, and even more, with a good education in basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
I firmly believe that "everyone" should know how to act if someone collapses in their presence, know whether or not to perform a cardiac massage and how to do it correctly, as well as know the basic operation of an automatic defibrillator.
This saves lives, and what happened that afternoon at the Marítima facilities is a clear example of this, of which we must be proud. However, there is still much to be done...
