NEW ORLEANS — Each Wednesday night at Snug Harbor, you’ll find Maurice Trosclair playing the trombone.
He’s a part of the Delfeayo Marsalis’ Uptown Jazz Orchestra.
However, life hasn’t always been so jazzy for Trosclair.
On Valentine’s Day in 2017, he fell victim to sudden cardiac arrest.
Luckily, two nurses were nearby to help save Trosclair’s life.
“They performed tag team CPR on me and also they were able to get an AED, which was on location, and were able to shock me before EMS arrived,” says Trosclair.
Now, he’s teaming up with Hearbeat NOLA to share his story and to educate the public on AED’s, or Automated External Defibrillators.
“The 360,000 people that die a year from sudden cardiac arrest, these deaths are preventable and there is something we can do,” says Trosclair.
He and his wife, Nancy, decided Snug Harbor was the perfect place for this life-saving tool.
That’s how they organized putting the first ever AED on Frenchmen Street.
“We have to empower people through first the awareness and then the knowledge that you can act appropriately within your experience base,” says Nancy.
At the end of Snug Harbor’s bar, a sign that reads AED hangs in bright red letters.
Beside the sign is a box that holds the device that could just save a life.
Nancy says the goal is to keep CPR going while someone retrieves the defibrillator.
Then, press the green button on the device, and it will start to give verbal instructions on how to use it.
“You know, of every minute that passes from your collapse that you do not get defibrillation, your chances of survival decreases by 10%,” says Trosclair.
He hopes this step by step device could just save another life.
Heartbeat Nola has a special goal.
They want to put AED’s all over the city and educate the public on how to use them.
If you want to help out, then you can request an AED for any location that lacks one.
Click here to learn more.
