For more than 350,000 Americans who suffer from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) annually, a 10 minute window can mean the difference between life and death.
A new partnership between the Steven M. Gootter Foundation and Former Grand Slam Tennis Champion Murphy Jensen seeks to open that window to the world with automated external defibrillators (AEDs).
“I am still here because there was an AED 10 feet from the tennis court that I was playing on. I am still here because people who were there knew how to use that AED and they knew they could use it. I am here because they knew how to do chest-compression-only CPR,” said Jensen, who experienced SCA while playing tennis with his brother in 2021. Following six shocks with an AED, an induced coma and an extensive recovery, Jensen is doing his part to give back through the newly-renamed Gootter-Jensen Foundation.
“The Gootter Foundation and Murphy Jensen are joining forces to eradicate Sudden Cardiac Death and we are incredibly excited about the partnership. Murphy has always been a wonderful ambassador for us and has supported us for 11 years. He never in a million years imagined that the CPR and AED techniques he helped to demonstrate and train people in would someday be used to save his own life,” said Andrew Messing, president of the foundation.
The partnership will piggyback on the Gootter Foundation’s 18-year legacy of outreach and education; more than $4 million in research; and placement of more than 450 AEDs in schools, churches, recreation centers other locations — including with more than 120 first responders — throughout southern Arizona.
“As the Gootter-Jensen Foundation, we will have the same mission but greater reach. Murphy’s celebrity status in this country and worldwide will help get the message out about the importance of AEDs and how they save lives,” said Messing.
He emphasized that Jensen, who spoke with members of Congress last week with Buffalo Bills Safety Damar Hamlin in support of the Access to AEDs Act, has the potential for significant reach in sports, recreation and beyond. Like Jensen, Hamlin was revived by an AED after experience SCA during a Jan. 2, Monday Night Football game.
“AEDs are a game-changer for everyone on this planet. They were for me and for my family. You don’t know what you don’t know until you have had a cardiac arrest,” said Jensen.
The Gootter-Jensen Foundation will also continue to emphasize education and outreach.
“Most people don’t know that someone experiences cardiac arrest every 90 seconds and 10,000 kids in high schools have cardiac arrests. Along with placement of AEDs we must make education and resources available so people know how to use them,” said Jensen, who spoke to other survivors and families who had lost children to SCA while he was in Washington, D.C.
In addition to education, the foundation is promoting the importance of making numerous AEDs widely available everywhere that people “work, worship and play.”
“It is critical that the shock from the AED be administered in the first 10 minutes when someone collapses. Every minute counts. The longer it takes to administer a shock, the greater the chance of someone having cognitive issues even if they do survive,” said Messing.
The foundation likens AEDs to essential safety measures.
“There is no reason that wherever there is a crowd gathered there can’t be measures for safety, whether that is a fire extinguisher or an AED,” said Jensen.
