The vision of LifeVac came from a story that Arthur Lih, founder and CEO of LifeVac, heard of a woman in a hospital weeping following the death of her young son. The reason for his death was that a grape had become lodged in his windpipe and the Heimlich Maneuver did not work. Once he heard the story he set out to invent an apparatus that could clear an airway. Arthur, Dr. Brody, and a few close friends set out to bring LifeVac to the public by establishing a research and development facility located in Springfield Gardens, NY where we are producing the upper airway clearing device in order to bring the safest, simplest method to save an aspirating person. Our goal is to save as many lives as possible throughout the world.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a podcast from WOR.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Here's Larry Minting with more of the wr Saturday Morning Show,
Welcome Back.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Over five thousand people in America choke to death every year,
but because of my next guest, those numbers are going down.
Arthur Lee has saved three thousand lives with his invention Lifeback. Arthur,
thanks so much for joining us. Let's start with the basics.
What is life back and how does it work?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I've back is a choking rescue device that if you're
choking in protocol fails, I'm like backblows that you have
an option. It's a simple suction device. It looks like
a sink plunger and just push it. You put it
on the person's face, you push it, give it a
quick tug and it creates a burst of suction and
when you push it down, the events out the side
so it can't push it in. So basically, to visualize it,
(00:53):
it's a plunger, just like you would use on your sink.
You push it, you give it a quick pull, and
it sucks out what's causing the airway obstruction.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
And you hit a big milestone this.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Week, ridiculous milestone. We just got our three thousand lives saved.
We have over nineteen hundred children, and as we were
briefly talking that all those families are still together. Choking
is a fourth leading cause accidental death. One child dies
every five days. It's like fourteen people a day. And
(01:25):
it's people don't know that. You know, I didn't know.
I'll do the di is'mlic and I'll say, by my
child doesn't always work, nothing against it. It's just if
you don't have air, you squished the body, it won't
come out. And we now for the first time in
the history, may and have an option when it fails.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
How did you come up with the idea? Was it
something personal?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
It was I was visiting a friend in the hospital
and his mom was having an operation. He's my buddy.
I was just keeping him company. And he pointed across
the one of those steel gurneys, which already create gives
me the creeps, just thinking, and he said there was
a seven year old on that gurney that had died.
And it was just quiet me and him in the hospital.
(02:08):
And he explained the noise of the mother and the
staff and him and his mom bawling, and the mother
on the floor sobbing, and my daughter was seven, and
I said, we're in the hospital. They couldn't get it
out there. I'm like the back off the work. And
I went on that night thinking, as we had discussed
(02:29):
about my daughter and my hands being on that gurnie,
I said, that's not happening. And I got to figure something.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Out of the three thousand people that you saved with
life back, have you met any of them at that.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
I've met many of them, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Just this week I was in Pittsburgh with families who
have lost their children and they are now advocates. But
I've been blessed to meet many of the kids and
a lot of and some of the people, the elderly people.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
It's really hard to.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Just describe the amazingness of those moments. I was holding
this little boy, Killian, he saved just before his first birthday,
and I was holding in my hands and saying, you
better be a good boy. And I looked over and
I saw the parents and the grandparents and it was
dead quiet, and I've never had such a strong feeling
(03:20):
of pure gratitude, like we were just all grateful that
little Killian was there. And gratitude's an odd feeling that
you know, you don't really acknowledge, right, And it was
just showed me the significance of the perseverance of all
the lifebackers.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yeah, it's gotta be so gratifying though, because I mean
to see the result of your work and know you're
holding exactly That's what I mean. It's a you've just
tactile to you. We're talking with Arthur Lee, founder and
CEO of Lifeback. You can learn much more at lifeback
dot net.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Arthur.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
The American Red Cross has announced that with anti choking
devices like life Back, there are now new guidelines.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
What does that mean to Life.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Back, Well, it was almost surreal. From eleven years my
garage glued together saying plunge of persevering, medical journals, testing,
et cetera. We saved three thousand lives and we came
across the Red Cross first significant change the protocol in
forty seven years since the Heimlick. Most importantly, too, it
says when it can't be done or it's difficult, Right,
(04:25):
it's the first time in the history of man that
persons with a disability that cannot you can't get your
arms around them in a wheelchair, that brace there's all
sorts of conditions. Well, you cannot himlock someone, you cannot
do backblows, they will die. They now have an option.
Early on, there was this guy in McDonald's. He was
selling Paul's a big guy wheelchair.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
He choked.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
No one did anything, they didn't know, there was nothing
to do. So not only does everyone, you know, all
the people have a chance. All the people that never
had a chance now have a chance. And the Scientific
Advisory Board of the Red Cross is the world leader
in you know, first eight. So they're acknowledging that this
(05:08):
is now an option. Is huge and now we can
save thousands and thousands and thousands of lives, you.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Know, especially now that it's part of the Red Cross recommendations.
I don't understand why this isn't in every school. I
don't get why it's not in restaurants.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Well, the beautiful thing about having me on, I'm so
grateful as awareness people got to know. But you're right
that Red Cross recommendation now says fire, police, restaurants, schools,
they can all rely on the Red Cross, which is
what they use as their foundational first aid protocols to
use a life back. And that's the leap. We saved zero,
(05:48):
the first year zero, the second year zero, the third
year six four six, fifteen, fifty seven, one fifty three,
last year one thousand. This year will be somewhere like
around twenty two hundred lives with this next year four
five thousand.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
How long does someone have when they start about four minutes?
About four minutes and that's the top end. Kids sometimes
can make it longer just because it's over resilient. But
you know, brain damage is going to set in. It
could set in as early as two minutes.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
And so there's plenty of time to go grab a device.
It really is, you know.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Our recommendation is we've had a threefold approach from the beginning.
Education right, watch out for certain foods, don't let the
kids eat or attended, watch out for things on the floor.
Then get trained, get red cross train, learn how to
do the hemlett, the back blows and protocol CPR, and
then have a life back. We do those things. I
guarantee we've saved lives on awareness and training too, right,
(06:45):
And I'm glad, and I'm sure there's a lot of
unreported lifeback saves. God bless, I don't.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Have to know.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, you know, I just changing things that that kid
goes home to the parents from school. We've saved twenty
seven kids in school.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I know you have a book out called Kancer is
a Lie? You want to talk about that?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
You know, it's I think as we were talking a
little bit, it's a foundational theory book.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
It's pretty goofy.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
I mean, I have theories that have influenced me, from
the Little Rascals to my dad, to my uncle to
a movie. Things that create your foundational principles that make
life easier once you know that you do the right
thing and don't worry about it.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
It helps.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
When you know that you can overcome, you can recover
and move forward.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
It helps.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
And it's a very simple book. It's written like by
you know, fifth grader that I tend to be. But
I've gotten some amazing reviews on life Changing. You know
how one of those stories hit home and has helped someone.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
So I'm excited about it now.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
If somebody wanted to get the book or learn more
about the book, if somebody wants to get life back
or learn more about life back, they just go online.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Yeah, life back dot net. You get the book there too.
Please light back first it's don't worry about the book.
It could help you, but it's not going to save
your life in four minutes. But yeah, Life Back Dot
and that book can get on Amazon. But my encouragement is,
you know, if you have a young child, you're taking
care of me now that you live alone. These are
all high risk problems. You know, Parkinson's MS. We saved
(08:23):
someone Parkinson's today affects you're swallowing. Consider a Life Back right.
I made it last forever, so you buy it once.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
You don't have to get whatever year when.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
It expires, because if my dad would have killed me,
covers adults and children, and if you use it, we
give you a free one. So get it throwing under
your sink. God bless hoping them and need it. How
incredible is that to be able to say we saved
someone today. It's ridiculous I had for today. I just
my hair standing up. It's radio you can't see, which
is good. But it's just as we talked about, all
(08:56):
those families don't have pain. They're all playing with their
kids today. And you wouldn't believe the things we pulled
out of kids. We caught hot dogs and we watched
our kids and that's great. Pieces of plastic, leaves, toys, hairclips.
Kids will choke on anything.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Arthur Lee, founder and CEO of Lifeback. You can learn
much more about it at lifeback dot net.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
This has been a podcast from wor
This is a podcast from WOR.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Here's Larry Minting with more of the wr Saturday Morning Show,
Welcome Back.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Over five thousand people in America choke to death every year,
but because of my next guest, those numbers are going down.
Arthur Lee has saved three thousand lives with his invention Lifeback. Arthur,
thanks so much for joining us. Let's start with the basics.
What is life back and how does it work?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I've back is a choking rescue device that if you're
choking in protocol fails, I'm like backblows that you have
an option. It's a simple suction device. It looks like
a sink plunger and just push it. You put it
on the person's face, you push it, give it a
quick tug and it creates a burst of suction and
when you push it down, the events out the side
so it can't push it in. So basically, to visualize it,
(00:53):
it's a plunger, just like you would use on your sink.
You push it, you give it a quick pull, and
it sucks out what's causing the airway obstruction.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
And you hit a big milestone this.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Week, ridiculous milestone. We just got our three thousand lives saved.
We have over nineteen hundred children, and as we were
briefly talking that all those families are still together. Choking
is a fourth leading cause accidental death. One child dies
every five days. It's like fourteen people a day. And
(01:25):
it's people don't know that. You know, I didn't know.
I'll do the di is'mlic and I'll say, by my
child doesn't always work, nothing against it. It's just if
you don't have air, you squished the body, it won't
come out. And we now for the first time in
the history, may and have an option when it fails.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
How did you come up with the idea? Was it
something personal?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
It was I was visiting a friend in the hospital
and his mom was having an operation. He's my buddy.
I was just keeping him company. And he pointed across
the one of those steel gurneys, which already create gives
me the creeps, just thinking, and he said there was
a seven year old on that gurney that had died.
And it was just quiet me and him in the hospital.
(02:08):
And he explained the noise of the mother and the
staff and him and his mom bawling, and the mother
on the floor sobbing, and my daughter was seven, and
I said, we're in the hospital. They couldn't get it
out there. I'm like the back off the work. And
I went on that night thinking, as we had discussed
(02:29):
about my daughter and my hands being on that gurnie,
I said, that's not happening. And I got to figure something.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Out of the three thousand people that you saved with
life back, have you met any of them at that.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
I've met many of them, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Just this week I was in Pittsburgh with families who
have lost their children and they are now advocates. But
I've been blessed to meet many of the kids and
a lot of and some of the people, the elderly people.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
It's really hard to.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Just describe the amazingness of those moments. I was holding
this little boy, Killian, he saved just before his first birthday,
and I was holding in my hands and saying, you
better be a good boy. And I looked over and
I saw the parents and the grandparents and it was
dead quiet, and I've never had such a strong feeling
(03:20):
of pure gratitude, like we were just all grateful that
little Killian was there. And gratitude's an odd feeling that
you know, you don't really acknowledge, right, And it was
just showed me the significance of the perseverance of all
the lifebackers.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yeah, it's gotta be so gratifying though, because I mean
to see the result of your work and know you're
holding exactly That's what I mean. It's a you've just
tactile to you. We're talking with Arthur Lee, founder and
CEO of Lifeback. You can learn much more at lifeback
dot net.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Arthur.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
The American Red Cross has announced that with anti choking
devices like life Back, there are now new guidelines.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
What does that mean to Life.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Back, Well, it was almost surreal. From eleven years my
garage glued together saying plunge of persevering, medical journals, testing,
et cetera. We saved three thousand lives and we came
across the Red Cross first significant change the protocol in
forty seven years since the Heimlick. Most importantly, too, it
says when it can't be done or it's difficult, Right,
(04:25):
it's the first time in the history of man that
persons with a disability that cannot you can't get your
arms around them in a wheelchair, that brace there's all
sorts of conditions. Well, you cannot himlock someone, you cannot
do backblows, they will die. They now have an option.
Early on, there was this guy in McDonald's. He was
selling Paul's a big guy wheelchair.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
He choked.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
No one did anything, they didn't know, there was nothing
to do. So not only does everyone, you know, all
the people have a chance. All the people that never
had a chance now have a chance. And the Scientific
Advisory Board of the Red Cross is the world leader
in you know, first eight. So they're acknowledging that this
(05:08):
is now an option. Is huge and now we can
save thousands and thousands and thousands of lives, you.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Know, especially now that it's part of the Red Cross recommendations.
I don't understand why this isn't in every school. I
don't get why it's not in restaurants.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Well, the beautiful thing about having me on, I'm so
grateful as awareness people got to know. But you're right
that Red Cross recommendation now says fire, police, restaurants, schools,
they can all rely on the Red Cross, which is
what they use as their foundational first aid protocols to
use a life back. And that's the leap. We saved zero,
(05:48):
the first year zero, the second year zero, the third
year six four six, fifteen, fifty seven, one fifty three,
last year one thousand. This year will be somewhere like
around twenty two hundred lives with this next year four
five thousand.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
How long does someone have when they start about four minutes?
About four minutes and that's the top end. Kids sometimes
can make it longer just because it's over resilient. But
you know, brain damage is going to set in. It
could set in as early as two minutes.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
And so there's plenty of time to go grab a device.
It really is, you know.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Our recommendation is we've had a threefold approach from the beginning.
Education right, watch out for certain foods, don't let the
kids eat or attended, watch out for things on the floor.
Then get trained, get red cross train, learn how to
do the hemlett, the back blows and protocol CPR, and
then have a life back. We do those things. I
guarantee we've saved lives on awareness and training too, right,
(06:45):
And I'm glad, and I'm sure there's a lot of
unreported lifeback saves. God bless, I don't.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Have to know.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, you know, I just changing things that that kid
goes home to the parents from school. We've saved twenty
seven kids in school.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I know you have a book out called Kancer is
a Lie? You want to talk about that?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
You know, it's I think as we were talking a
little bit, it's a foundational theory book.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
It's pretty goofy.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
I mean, I have theories that have influenced me, from
the Little Rascals to my dad, to my uncle to
a movie. Things that create your foundational principles that make
life easier once you know that you do the right
thing and don't worry about it.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
It helps.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
When you know that you can overcome, you can recover
and move forward.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
It helps.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
And it's a very simple book. It's written like by
you know, fifth grader that I tend to be. But
I've gotten some amazing reviews on life Changing. You know
how one of those stories hit home and has helped someone.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
So I'm excited about it now.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
If somebody wanted to get the book or learn more
about the book, if somebody wants to get life back
or learn more about life back, they just go online.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Yeah, life back dot net. You get the book there too.
Please light back first it's don't worry about the book.
It could help you, but it's not going to save
your life in four minutes. But yeah, Life Back Dot
and that book can get on Amazon. But my encouragement is,
you know, if you have a young child, you're taking
care of me now that you live alone. These are
all high risk problems. You know, Parkinson's MS. We saved
(08:23):
someone Parkinson's today affects you're swallowing. Consider a Life Back right.
I made it last forever, so you buy it once.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
You don't have to get whatever year when.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
It expires, because if my dad would have killed me,
covers adults and children, and if you use it, we
give you a free one. So get it throwing under
your sink. God bless hoping them and need it. How
incredible is that to be able to say we saved
someone today. It's ridiculous I had for today. I just
my hair standing up. It's radio you can't see, which
is good. But it's just as we talked about, all
(08:56):
those families don't have pain. They're all playing with their
kids today. And you wouldn't believe the things we pulled
out of kids. We caught hot dogs and we watched
our kids and that's great. Pieces of plastic, leaves, toys, hairclips.
Kids will choke on anything.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Arthur Lee, founder and CEO of Lifeback. You can learn
much more about it at lifeback dot net.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
This has been a podcast from wor
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