BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Brevard County Fire Rescue demonstrated CPR training Tuesday alongside a NFL player and local football star who has a personal connection to cardiac arrest.
Firefighters and EMS put Jacksonville Jaguars tackle and Cocoa High School alum Jawaan Taylor through a CPR test.
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Taylor said his father, Robert, died last January from cardiac arrest.
“Just knowing what my father went through, I know that cardiac arrest is a traumatic situation and the sooner you get help, the better,” Taylor said. “For people to be able to come home to their families at night and be safe is all that matters.”
At the CPR demonstration at a fire station on Murrell Road in Viera, Brevard County Fire Rescue said first responders are saving more lives after new training.
By performing CPR immediately, EMS said more cardiac arrest patients are staying neurologically intact, like Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin who, through a video posted to social media Saturday, spoke publicly for the first time since surviving cardiac arrest during the Monday Night Football game when the Bills’ played the Bengals.
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“We’re seeing a gradual increase in positive survival outcomes,” said Orlando Dominguez, assistant chief of EMS operations. “And at the end of the day, that’s what we want to see and that’s what we want to convey to Jawaan.”
The CPR-certified Taylor passed the CPR test by performing 30 chest compressions on a smart mannequin.
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While Taylor said the exercise reminded him of his father, the former Cocoa Tiger is also encouraged watching new technology.
“It just let me know that lives can be saved so it gave me a peace and a good feeling,” he said.
Taylor dedicated the Jags division championship season this year to his father.
Now, as the former Cocoa star enters free agency, he said he hopes he’ll stay a Jaguar as he continues to be an advocate for CPR.
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