Hamlin and now Presley, but what really is Cardiac Arrest, and how can it be prevented?

JACKSON, TENN (WNBJ)-

By now nearly everyone has heard of the sudden Cardiac Arrest that Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills suffered on the field.

And Lisa Marie Presley's cardiac arrest that apparently led to her passing yesterday

Cardiac Arrest has been all over the news but what is it really? And how can it be prevented?

“In cardiac arrest, there is an electrical malfunction of the heart inhibiting or disturbing the function of the heart as a pump. And in that case, most vital organs will not get blood and oxygen. And the most important that the most vital organ in this instance is the brain," Cardiologist Dr. Chibuzo Nwokolo said.

Dr. Chibuzo Nwokolo says Cardiac Arrest is pretty common, “we've seen roughly between 600 to around 50 cases of sudden cardiac arrest every year and 90% of them could be fatal."

The most common cause of Cardiac Arrest is Coronary Artery Disease.

But there are some things that you can do if someone suffers a Cardiac Arrest “everybody in schools, and churches should know how to do CPR, even if it's just compression-only CPR. And it is so important, you know, having AEDin any space where a lot of people got that for anything because that could save a life.”

But how can you prevent Cardiac Arrest from happening in the first place?

Dr. Nwokolo says it all starts with our habits, “We as a community need to start paying more attention to our health through therapeutic lifestyle modifications, and that includes what we drink, what we eat, and what we smoke.”

You can find more information on how to prevent cardiac at the American Heart Associations Website