Only 17, but JC student has saved many lives

SINGAPORE — He is only 17, but already a lifesaver many times over. Since 2014, Muhammad Luqman Abdul Rahman has responded about 20 times to potential cases of cardiac arrest.

The first time was “nerve-wracking”; Luqman was in Secondary 3 and on his way home from school. He was alerted to a case at Bedok South Road via the myResponder app, a collaboration between the Singapore Civil Defence Force and the then-Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, and saved a foreign worker’s life.

Since this year, the Temasek Junior College student has been equipped with a new tool that gauges the quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

With the CPRcard, a battery-operated device the size of a credit card, Luqman can now deliver CPR with the “peace of mind” that he is administering it properly.

The first four minutes after a cardiac arrest are critical, and CPR helps to ensure continuous blood flow to the brain and heart before paramedics arrive.

Using the CPRcard, Luqman has responded twice and helped two elderly women, both of whom survived. One of them was on a bed, and the feedback meters on the device helped him to deliver chest compressions at the correct depth, he said.

He attended Dispatcher Assisted First Responder training in Secondary 2 and went on to get CPR training the following year. “I felt it was a very useful skill to have because you never know when you might need (it),” he said.

His parents had reservations initially, worried that he might get into trouble if something went wrong. But Luqman invited them along once when he responded to an alert.

The experiences have made him consider becoming a doctor or nurse. For now, his friends are aware of his CPR skills and joke about having his number on speed dial for emergencies, he said.