The shocking statistics released by the National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases suggest that China has the highest occurrence of sudden cardiac deaths (SCD) in the world, accounting for over 544,000 deaths annually. That is to say, SCDs occur at a rate of 1,500 people/day or one person/minute in China. According to David Jin, general manager of Henan Huawei Aluminum Co., Ltd. (“Huawei Aluminum”), in view of the high occurrence of SCDs in people of all ages in recent years, it is urgent to popularize first aid CPR and increase the installation of AED in public places.

SCD has become a major cause of mortality, with symptoms occurring rapidly within one hour or less before death. According to Jin, the prime time for rescue is within just 4 minutes after SCD occurs. If CPR is administered within 1 minute after the victim falls to the ground, the survival probability is 90%, 60% within 2 minutes, 40% within 4 minutes, ati 20% within 8 minutes. If measures are taken beyond 10 minutes, the chance of survival is almost zero. The three universal emergency treatment methods for SCD are mouth-to-mouth breathing, chest compression, and electrical shock via AED. Studies in several European countries and the U.S. suggest that a bystander’s presence to initiate CPR timely and access to AED can significantly improve survival and reduce compound risks.

Though sudden cardiac arrest occurs at a rate of one person/minute in China, only 1% of the population know how to perform CPR, in contrast to which the proportion reaches 60% in the U.S. and more than 90% in Japan. As over 90% of sudden cardiac arrest occurs outside of hospitals in China, where ambulances or trained rescuers are unable to reach immediately, the survival rate of out-of-hospital SCD victims falls below 1%. In comparison, the survival rate reaches 10% in Europe and the U.S. and even 30% in some countries. The difference has nothing to do with medical skills or technical expertise but simply the lack of knowledge about CPR among the Chinese people. Nitorina, it is urgent to train 1 billion Chinese people in CPR.

Jin is a dutiful general manager of Huawei Aluminum and an active philanthropist and exerciser. He once played a ball game at a stadium and saw a playmate falling to the ground and dying because no one on the site could perform CPR and no AED was available. One of his college teachers also passed away because of sudden cardiac arrest while skiing when nobody around was familiar with CPR. These painful experiences motivated Jin to dedicate himself to the training and popularization of CPR in campuses, communities, and enterprises and training of voluntary rescuers and the donation of AEDs to a number of public spaces. He has organized a team of 16 young people from his company in receiving professional training on CRP and the use of AED at the Ninth People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou, which was very supportive of the action and assigned experts for the training. Through deliberate training and actual practice, now the trainees have grasped CPR and proficient use of AED and received the Heartsaver First Aid CPR AED certificate from American Heart Association.

Jin has also donated AEDs to stadiums, training the staff of stadiums on the use of AED, and offering regular maintenance of the device. He calls for more entrepreneurs and volunteers to join the cause and raise funds to increase access to AED in major cities, especially at subways, railway stations, stadiums, business districts, and other crowded places, where clear signs should be established to allow easy access. As the founder of Huawei Aluminum, Jin wished to contribute to society and save people’s priceless lives. The Chinese ancestors said that saving one person is saving the world. Jin finds the meaning of life in such actions. He hoped that his efforts would help popularize CRP and motivate more philanthropists to donate AED to public spaces. He calls for entrepreneurs and philanthropists to donate funds to public welfare organizations to purchase AED and heads of public spaces and stadiums to contact him for training on CPR and donation, use, and maintenance of AED.

Jin is an entrepreneur born in the 1970s. Huawei Aluminiomu, the company he founded, specializes in the production and international trade of aluminum plates, aluminum foils, aluminum wafers, and deep-processed aluminum products. Though the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on his company’s export business, Jin perseveres with the popularization of CPR and AED at the difficult time, for he believes that it is an important social responsibility of his. He kept in mind the words of the Chinese writer Lu Xun: “May the Chinese youth stop being apathetic, keep forging ahead, and pay no attention to what self-abandoners say. Take action if you can, and speak out if you have a say. However small they are, just like a firefly, which emits dim light in the dark without waiting for the torch, contribute a bit of heat and light. If there is no torch at all, you will be the only light.”

The degree of popularization of CPR is an important indicator of civilization. The importance of promotion of CPR and increase of access to AED has gradually become a social consensus. The world will not embark on the era of comprehensive health until more enterprises and social organizations join companies like Huawei Aluminum to enable more people to learn about first aid CPR and safeguard the people’s fitness and health care.