Damar Hamlin hosts free CPR training at PNC Park as part of Pittsburgh visit

PITTSBURGH — After a scary situation on Monday Night Football earlier this year, Damar Hamlin has been advocating for increased CPR and Automatic External Defibrillator training.

“My experience has shown the world how important CPR is and having access to AEDs should a cardiac arrest happen,” Hamlin said Sunday.

“What we saw on Monday Night Football when Damar had his incident was every step in the chain of survival working perfectly,” added Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association.

PHOTOS: Damar Hamlin visits Pittsburgh to raise money for charity, give CPR training

Brown said only one in ten people who suffer cardiac arrest outside of the hospital survive. To change that statistic, getting more people trained on these life-saving measures, the better.

“We need people to know how to take action if they witness someone having an event,” Brown said.

To make sure more people have the opportunity for that “chain of survival” to work perfectly, Hamlin and his foundation, Chasing M’s, put on free CPR training sessions and gave away free AEDs to local youth sports organizations at PNC Park Sunday.

“This mission is personal and I’m 100% behind making CPR known worldwide and turning it into a cool thing that’s easy to talk about, that’s more involved in conversations with people that we have,” Hamlin said.

Cameron Culliver, the president of the Sto-Rox school board and youth sports, said seeing Hamlin turn a scary personal situation into a learning opportunity for so many people — especially young people in his hometown — shows his character.

Channel 11 spoke to Hamlin about this tour. Read the full story here.

“It’s Damar all the way,” Culliver said. “To see kids out here, making kids aware at such a young age, that’s amazing in itself. You don’t see this anywhere at all, but you see it here with Damar Hamlin.”

To learn hands-only CPR, you can watch a 1-minute video here.

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