With popular artists like Beyonce and Taylor Swift touring this summer, the American Heart Association is reminding people some of their favorite songs are for more than singing along. They could actually help save a life.
If you see someone collapse, the Heart Association’s advice is to call 911 and begin compressions to the middle of the person’s chest, at the rate of 100 to 120 beats per minute. The beat of a memorable song can help keep you on track as you perform CPR.
Madelyn Alexander, marketing communications director for the American Heart Association of Missouri, said they have a list of catchy songs (https://cpr.heart.org/en/training-programs/community-programs/be-the-beat) with just the right beat – including Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love,” and “The Man,” by Taylor Swift.
“Using song to make that connection to how fast you need to perform CPR just kind of helps with the memory,” Alexander explained. “There’s that connection to music that we all have, and if you’re humming a song that you know, that keeps the rhythm going so that you can perform CPR until help arrives.”
Alexander noted the Heart Association’s song list includes popular tunes to resonate with a large audience and have the correct tempo to perform hands-only CPR.
The summer has more people out and about at festivals, concerts and at the pool. Alexander said the Heart Association’s summer goal is to create what it calls a “Nation of Lifesavers,” by equipping more people with CPR skills. She added the more quickly CPR can begin after someone collapses, the greater the possibility their life will be saved.
“Early in the year, of course, we saw the incident with Damar Hamlin,” Alexander recounted. “To see the outcome of that, and that CPR and AEDs were used immediately, and that his life was saved. So that gives us the importance of learning CPR.”
This week, Damar Hamlin presented the Pat Tillman Award for Service at the 2023 ESPYs to the Buffalo Bills training staff, who helped save his life after he collapsed during a football game in January.
