(FinalCall.com) – As a six-year-old growing up in Joliet, Illinois, Oneal Muhammad saw something no child should ever see but children in U.S. cities large and small too often witness, gun violence. It was at this young age Brother Oneal saw a young man shot and killed in front of his eyes for the first time.
That split second in time, though tragic, had a profound impact on his heart and mind as a young boy. That moment, when one life was lost, touched something in young Oneal that followed him into adulthood.
“I was playing in the sandbox and the person got shot with a sawed-off and I saw his intestines, his insides and from that point on I was fascinated with the human body,” explains Bro. Oneal. As a result he became interested in what made the human body function and how blood flowed through the body.
Bro. Oneal says the fascination grew as he matriculated through school and studied biology, other sciences as well as technology. His professional career included background as a hospital orderly, phlebotomist (person that draws blood), Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) specialist and pathology assistant.
Over 20 years later, Bro. Oneal’s extensive medical background coupled with his dream of being an inventor led him to produce Transproto Maxmillion (“Transmax” for short), the only life-size transparent CPR mannequin that lights up to show practitioners if their techniques are being applied correctly. “I call him Transproto because he’s my first prototype and I got the name Maxmillion because he’s going to make me millions,” he laughs.
According to the American Red Cross over 200,000 people die each year from sudden cardiac arrest. Everyone should be trained in first aid as well as CPR the group says on its website. CPR is an emergency procedure in which a series of chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth breaths are performed on people suffering from cardiac arrest. It is administered to help provide oxygen flow to the brain and lungs until consciousness is regained. The human brain can only survive five minutes without oxygen to avoid permanent damage
As a certified CPR instructor, Bro. Oneal agrees with the importance of training but more importantly knowing how to administer the techniques properly, something he says Transmax will help ensure.
Bro. Oneal says he administered CPR on patients several times through the years that co-workers began referring to him as “the god of CPR” because of his success rate in saving lives. It was his job, to administer chest compressions in the emergency room. “The majority of the people that I did CPR on, I resuscitated,” Bro. Oneal told The Final Call.
But it was not until his acceptance of the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad under the guidance of Minister Louis Farrakhan in 1990 that Bro. Oneal gained a better understanding of the term “god” and began cultivating that principle into his work and began training others.
“There was a Brother Preston Muhammad out of Des Moines, Iowa … and he was telling me that ‘Allah put healing in your hands,’ ” says Bro. Oneal.
Those profound words encouraged him to further develop his technique and skill level he explains. “My level of understanding went up higher and I started saving more people, once I got the knowledge of self.” Bro. Oneal has been a certified CPR instructor since 1997 and says he was told he has certified over 200,000 people, more than any instructor in the U.S.
As Bro. Oneal began training others in CPR, he said he noticed the current mannequins used for training were not comparable to what a real life human body felt like. The mannequins were very soft and flexible, the total opposite of a real body he explains. “So I said ‘wait a minute’, these people are not really learning how to do CPR right because these mannequins don’t feel like a real person,” says Bro. Oneal.
So in 2003 he said Allah (God) put in his head, the concept to develop a life-like transparent CPR mannequin, Transmax. He made it transparent so the inner workings of the human body could be seen and to eliminate barriers of skin color.
There are CPR mannequins in different colors but during training Bro. Oneal said he would get “funny looks” if he brought a Black mannequin to an all-White class or a White mannequin to an all-Black class. There were no barriers when he presented the prototype of Transmax.
“We’re taught in Islam that Allah is universal so what he put in my mind was a universal mannequin that everybody can benefit off of,” he explains. He designed the sternum to be hard, mirroring a human sternum and designed the airway to look more realistic.
Though Transmax was a prototype, Bro. Oneal recently acquired the official manufacturer’s version of his invention that includes transparent “skin” that mirrors human skin. It also runs off remote control, allowing him to digitally control heart rate, breathing and weight of the mannequin. Bro. Oneal is currently working on three more sophisticated upgrades to Transmax including a version that will show more internal organs and blood flow.
Though the circumstances surrounding the loss of life Oneal Muhammad witnessed all those years ago as a young boy was indeed tragic, it could be said it was not in vain. For that same tragedy sparked the creative genius in a man that may potentially help save thousands or millions of more lives through science, technology and tapping into the “god” within.
“I do classes for psychologists, scientists and they were all telling me ‘this is a genius idea that you created this’ and I just say All Praise Is Due To Allah. And I tell people I didn’t make this, God made this mannequin and they would laugh at me,” he smiles.
Bro. Oneal and his invention have been featured in local and national media outlets. He has been inundated with inquiries from medical groups and corporations worldwide expressing interest in Transmax.
(Video clips of Bro. Oneal demonstrating with Transmax can be found on YouTube. To contact Bro. Oneal for CPR training call 815-302-5760 or email [email protected].)
Related link:
Transmax 2nd Prototype CPR Training Mannequin Demo (Video, 06-23-2011)
