This week The Ravine would like to recognize Canen Dickman as the Wolf Of The Week for the work he has done in the community and beyond to ensure that AEDs are always ready to go in schools in case of an emergency.
In July of 2023, Canen went into cardiac arrest while on the track. Coach Sprunger and Coach Fagan immediately went into action. Sprunger was performing CPR on Canen and Fagan, grabbing the AED from inside the school. They continued this until the paramedics arrived.
“Only 10% of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside of hospitals survive, so I was extremely lucky. Learning this statistic made me want to help bring that number up and help others,” Dickman told us.
Dickman has continued to help so many others since. He has been partnering with companies to help raise awareness for cardiac arrest and to help save the lives of those who go into cardiac arrest.
“I was asked to testify for house bill 47, which requires all schools to have AED machines like the one that helped save my life and an emergency action plan to go with it,” said Dickman.
Helping out locally was not the end of the goal for Canen, but he wanted to help save lives all across the country.
Politicians far and wide heard about Canen’s story and were moved and wanted to get involved.
Canen stated, “I was also asked to join the American Heart Association to meet with Senators and Congress to ask for help nationwide, which we advocated in Washington D.C. for.”
Most recently, Governor Mike DeWine signed House Bill 47 into action in July of this past year, almost a year after an AED saved Canen’s life. He signed the Bill right here at Worthington Kilbourne High School.
This bill passed the Ohio Senate and House with almost no hold-up, showing that everyone can agree on how important it is to have these life-saving machines in our schools.
While a lot of progress has been made, there is still a long way to go to ensure that more people who go into cardiac arrest outside of hospitals survive, but thanks to Canen Dickman, his incredible story and his desire to help people the same way that people helped him, cardiac arrest victims have a better chance of surviving.
If you see Canen around the school or out in public, make sure to congratulate him on the heroic work he has been doing by telling his story and voicing his experiences.
