Maurice Trosclair to Play the National Anthem at EMS Expo

New Orleans is known for its vibrant nightlife…one of those U.S. destinations where the city never sleeps.

One of its residents, jazz musician Maurice Trosclair – who is slated to play the National Anthem at EMS Expo in New Orleans from Sept. 18 to 22 – wants the city to also be known as "heart safe."

Trosclair has made vast contributions to society over the years as an experienced geoscience technician in the oil and gas industry and as an accomplished musician on the New Orleans music scene, and now he adds to his resume the role of founder of Heartbeat NOLA, a 501c3 non-profit education and fundraising organization aiming to train as many people in CPR and place AEDs in as many places as possible, especially in entertainment venues.

The driving factor in doing so was the two sudden cardiac arrests (SCA) he experienced within an approximately three-year timespan from which he survived. Bandmates have nicknamed him "Miracle Meaux."

Through Heartbeat NOLA, Trosclair and his wife Nancy seek to help mitigate the consequences of cardiac arrests occurring outside of the hospital.

The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation notes the American Heart Association (AHA) has called SCA a public health crisis, with recent statistics indicating there are more than 356,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests annually in the U.S., with nearly 90 percent of them fatal.

The History of Heartbeat NOLA

As noted in an earlier story in EMS World about public AED placement, 90 percent of cardiac arrest victims receiving a shock from an AED in the first minute survive. 

On Valentine’s Day 2017, Trosclair – who had just finished running on the levee along Lake Pontchartrain – suffered a cardiac arrest in an elevator while texting his wife about later plans.

Another elevator passenger ran for an AED while two nearby nurses began CPR. Help was rendered with the AED until EMS arrived.

Trosclair’s upcoming performance of the National Anthem at the EMS convention will be the second such performance – he played the National Anthem at the 2019 convention.

While there, he met one of the EMTs on his SCA call who had expressed his own gratitude for getting to meet someone he once saved.

He arranged for the reunion of the other EMS responders to be at the release of his Trosclair’s album, ‘Grateful: A Sudden Cardiac Arrest Survivor’s Awakening,’ featuring musicians with whom he has previously played and featured on major streaming services. It includes a song he wrote about surviving his SCA experience.

“It gave us both an opportunity to put some closure on that day,” says Trosclair. “We know what they do really makes a difference. I was living proof that their work was an unbelievable moment in my life. To be able to meet these people was just amazing.”

Trosclair says playing the National Anthem for the second time for the EMS World Expo underscores his understanding of the roles citizens, first responders, and EMS share in the chain of survival.

“For me personally, it’s the ultimate way to say ‘thank you’,” he says. “Everyone in that audience saves lives every day and many of them will never get the satisfaction of not only meeting the person that survived.

“Because of these people in this audience, it makes the performance that much more special and the work the first responders and medical professionals do is priceless. Twice I’ve been honored to perform here and I look forward to it.”

Trosclair says while he was in the hospital for four days after the first incident and didn’t remember much of anything, what he did remember was “this incredible feeling of peace, indescribable peace. Wow…what a way to go. Painless. But here I am. I was not done.”

The experience changed his career trajectory. He and his wife Nancy talked about ‘paying it forward’ and thus began Heartbeat NOLA in 2018.

Trosclair says he’d like to see AEDs become as commonplace as fire extinguishers. While there may be mandates to have them in schools, for example, they are often unfunded mandates, he adds.

Trosclair's Cardiac Complications

During a trip to California in May 2021, Trosclair had another sudden cardiac arrest at a grocery store outside of Yosemite National Park. A chain of people and events made Trosclair’s survival possible, starting with his wife Nancy performing CPR before EMS arrived to deliver shocks to his heart, transporting him to Sonora from where he was flown by helicopter to Modesto and made a full recovery.

Trosclair, an avid runner, notes a history of cardiac disease in his family. He had been trying to avoid a similar outcome by running races and marathons to stay healthy. He would come to discover he had bradycardia. And his own diagnosis made him question the experiences of others.

“Once we realized that people were dying needlessly, we felt maybe there's something we can do,” he says of he and his wife Nancy starting Heartbeat NOLA. The nurses involved in his first resuscitation serve on the board of directors.

Trosclair’s sister, a master pottery artist, taught him how to make pottery. He sold the ones he made, using the money to buy an AED.

Creating the ‘Grateful’ album was a sort of therapy for Trosclair to start writing songs again after a serious life event. He continues to play with many bands. His own brass band often plays funerals, something he notes is “rather ironic.”

A Mission to Buy AEDs

The proceeds from his album sales are used to buy more AEDs.

Augmenting that have been social media fundraisers, participation in the Give NOLA Day, a 24-hour event hosted by the Greater New Orleans Foundation to raise money for local nonprofits and grant applications.

“We’re trying to be as creative as we can,” says Trosclair. “But New Orleans has many challenges just like many metropolitan cities with a depleted police force and EMS challenges with personnel. We’ve tried to identify places that need them and follow through with the install and training. We’re hoping for the best with what we have and the obstacles we have here.”

Heartbeat NOLA has been able to install 10 AEDs throughout the city. Trosclair has encouraged entertainment venues in which the organization has installed the AEDs to pay it forward by buying one for another venue.

Trosclair and his wife are both Basic Life Support (BLS) trained through the American Heart Association. With the onset of the COVID pandemic negatively impacting their jobs, they sold their home and traveled in an RV, bringing an AED with them, and teaching hands-on CPR along the way.

“We ultimately ended up helping the chain of survival that saved my life the second time while we were on the road by being BLS instructors,” Trosclair says. “We ended up maximizing my outcome again when I had my second cardiac arrest outside of Yosemite.”

Trosclair says he and his wife’s mission is to show people how easy it is to make a difference and how citizens can be a part of the six-ring chain of survival.

“There is a relationship that citizens, EMS, first responders, and aftercare people have,” Trosclair points out. “We all need to work together to make the best outcomes for these victims.”

Trosclair notes that the incidents that have involved high-profile sports figures such as Damar Hamlin and Bronny James while unfortunate also throw a spotlight on the issue.

“It’s getting noticed and is going to save lives,” he says. “There’s so few of us walking about when one in 10 survive. For the best outcome, we have to be ready for what is right. We need to recognize it and know what to do.”

In addition to creating widespread availability of AEDs and commonplace CPR training throughout New Orleans and beyond, Trosclair says he’d also like to see a partnership with PulsePoint to create a triangulation of a citizen responder, victim, and 9-1-1.

He also would like Heartbeat NOLA to serve as a catalyst for mandatory legislation in certain places to increase the chance of survival.  

Trosclair says the challenge in the messaging is that it’s not a pleasant topic to discuss. “We’ll get better at making people understand just how easy it is to save a life,” he adds.