It was very close that Edwin Gevers (52) from Uden had no longer been there. In 2021, he suffered cardiac arrest during football practice. Thanks to the use of an AED and the quick actions of his fellow club members at UDI’19, Edwin can still tell the story. “This shows you how important it is to have knowledge about resuscitation with an AED,” says the footballer.
On April 10, Edwin fell down on the field, only to wake up a few days later in the hospital. It was not clear to Edwin’s teammates at first that he was in cardiac arrest. “At first they thought it was an epileptic attack, but two women from the veteran team saw that I turned completely blue and suspected that there was more going on,” says Edwin at the place where things went wrong.
The rescuers were An van de Broek and Christel Bongers. They still remember the moment like it was yesterday. “We turned him on his back. Someone started chest massage, another gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and in the meantime the AED was obtained,” says An.
Edwin: “I don’t remember anything about what happened. But afterwards I heard that the football field after the hospital is the ‘best’ place to have a cardiac arrest. There are often enough people at a club who have knowledge of resuscitation. I am very grateful to my clubmates that they did not hesitate for a second to help me.”
“Then the AED was pulled from the wall, because that was vital.”
The association thought it was well prepared, because there was an AED at the complex. But it was under lock and key. An: “The code, 1-1-2, was very logical, but you don’t think about it in such a situation. Then the AED was pulled from the wall, because that was vital.”
After the event, the club immediately tackled the working method with AEDs. The device is now easier to reach. “That code was there to prevent theft, but in retrospect it is not useful. Now there is an alarm on the AED, so that everyone in the area knows that the device is needed or that it is being stolen,” says club doctor Jan van Asseldonk.
About 80 volunteers have now also been trained as care providers. An knows how important it is to have the right knowledge in-house. “I have a background as a nurse, so I knew how to resuscitate Edwin. But I had no knowledge about the AED or how to use it,” she says. “That’s why we first stuck the AED stickers upside down on Edwin’s chest.”
“I think that without an AED there is a good chance that I would no longer be here.”
In particular, trainers and leaders of UDI’19, but also players and parents, have followed an AED course. In Brabant, there is increasingly a volunteer in the area who can operate an AED, according to figures from HartslagNu. On average, nine out of ten times a volunteer responds to a call for help. Club doctor Jan is satisfied with the increased knowledge. “Now there is always someone at the club who knows how the AED is connected and operated.”
Every year, 17,000 people suffer cardiac arrest outside the hospital. If a shock with an AED is administered within six minutes, the chance that someone will survive is 50 to 70 percent. If there is no AED nearby, the chance of survival becomes much smaller.
In retrospect, the Udenaar finds it a shame that something had to happen to him before action was taken at the club. “I don’t want to think too long about what would have happened if the AED had not been there in time, but I think there is a good chance that I would not be here anymore.”