How AED's Save Lives

 

Defibrillators are those devices you’ve probably seen in TV dramas,

where someone  has suffered a heart attack and is in cardiac arrest,

but is brought back to life from the brink by an electric shock from

two metal plates applied to the victim’s chest.One or two jolts of

electricity and the victim regains consciousness and his heart is

beating again. A life is saved.

These life-saving devices are called external defibrillators and used to

be found only in medical facilities. Now, however, portable

defibrillators, called automated external defribillators,or AED’s for

short, are required by Federal law to be standard equipment on

airliners and are increasingly becoming part of many public service

operations.An AED Can Save Your Life? They prevent heart attacks from taking lives.

There’s been an uproar here in Chicago where I live because AED’s are

not required by local authorities to be on commuter trains and public

transit vehicles. And there have been a half-dozen cases on trains in

the past two years where someone suffered a heart attack or another

type of cardiac incident and died on the train or platform or in

the ambulance. Sadly, most of them would have survived if an AED had

been present and used to revive them. CPR alone is not enough. CPR plus an AED will increase survival rates dramatically.

Cardiac arrest strikes nearly 350,000 persons each year in the U.S.

alone and all but 10% don’t survive.But those who did survive had

the benefit of being revived with an AED by someone who was present and

administered the shock treatment.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the use of AED’s by police in

Rochester, Minnesota,and by security guards at O’Hare and Midway

Airports and at Las Vegas casinos have achieved a 50% to 75% survival

rate for adults who suffered sudden cardiac arrest.

So why aren’t there more AED’s available for public safety? Well, to begin with,they  cost

$1,000 to $1,500. So if Chicago, for example, has 600 buses,another 1000

subway cars, it becomes a cost factor. Others say you

need a medical professional to operate the device.But AED’s are

really quite simple to operate. It’s really quite simple to operate.

AED’s are true lifesavers. And if you or a relative

have high risk factors for heart disease, you might want to purchase one

for your home. People are experiencing difficult financial times these days. But is your husband or wife’s life

worth $1,000? Just think about it for a moment.

 

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Filed under: Health and Fitness: Heart Disease

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