Retired firefighters use AED to save golfer

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Thank you Georgia Zermeno on May 4th, 2012

“It was about 4:15 or 4:30 p.m.,” says Liz Hefferon. “I was picking my husband up after he completed a game of golf, and we went into the clubhouse for a drink – that’s when it happened.”

A moment that changed some lives, a moment that saved another’s life.

According to Golf Course employee Ian Nelson, he was working the desk when someone opened the door and yelled, “Call 911, we have someone down on the 18th hole!”

Ian immediately called 911 and gave them the location, had someone watch the desk and headed out to see how he could help.

Ian says what he witnessed was amazing. “They were doing CPR, then they did the defibrillator. The guy was blue, lifeless, and then suddenly he took a gasp of air. They saved his life.”

A mix of the right people at the right place, at the right time, with knowledge of resources around them, saved the life of golfer Dave Roscoe on Monday, April 30.

The heroes were three retired firefighters and one former employee and his wife sitting at the bar, getting a refresher after their game of golf. Jim Brown, retired captain/paramedic from Ontario Fire Department, looked out the window and saw a man performing CPR on another man on the 18th hole. Witnesses say he yelled out that a man was down on the green and to call 911 as he headed out the door. Bill Trembly, retired captain for Santa Barbara City Fire, along with Jerry Hefferon, jumped off their seats to head out with him.

“Grab the defibrillator guys, its behind the register,” yelled Jerry’s wife Liz. The men grabbed the AED (automatic external defibrillator) and ran down the grass. The bartender called 911. The third firefighter, Bill Iverson, a retired Orange County firefighter, headed out to meet the Riverside County firefighters to help direct them in.

According to Bill Trembly, when he got to the area where Dave Roscoe was, Jim Brown had taken over the CPR from Dave’s friend, Mark Bora, who had been doing CPR for a few minutes already. Since he wasn’t confident the AED machine was the same as what he was used to, Bill took over CPR and handed the machine to Jim. Jim began the defibrillation, administering the controlled electric shock in order to allow restoration of the normal rhythm of the heart.

“It saved his life,” Bill says. “He didn’t have a pulse, he wasn’t breathing, I don’t think he would have made it without the AED.”

Asked the question, “Now that you have seen it work, do you think the AED was easy to use?” Bill responded, “Definitely, it told us everything to do step by step.” He acknowledge that Jim, being a paramedic, knew what to do anyway, but Bill is confident anyone could use the machine.

By the time Fire Engine 94 arrived, Dave was awake and asking questions. Jim gave a quick report to the crew and the guys returned to the clubhouse.

Witness Terry O’Rouke sent a Letter to the Editor to acknowledge the heroes and Travis Montgomery made a call to the paper to share the miraculous story.

Jim Brown’s wife, Gerri, said, “He was just so calm about it, it’s what he does.” She told The Friday Flyer he had just left town and was unable to do an interview, but she agreed the men were heroes and that “firefighters are just amazing.”

Liz Hefferon was asked how she knew the machine was there. “When my husband worked there, they were all trained on it, we were all made aware where it was, and how easy it is to use! I was happy I remembered.”

Dave’s friend Mark stopped by the Pro Shop to update the staff on the condition of his friend. When asked how he was doing, he responded “He’s alive!” Mark shared that his friend is in ICU and is being treated for an irregular heartbeat, but is in good hands.

The importance of AEDs have been the topic in communities, school settings, recreational parks and business offices for years. Medical personnel continuously advocate for everyone to invest in taking a CPR class in which training on AEDs is included.

Canyon Lake residents should be aware that, within the community, the POA has purchased a total of six AED stations. The machines are located at the Country Club, Lodge, POA office, Campground, Senior Center and the Pool. City Manager Lori Moss announced that the City will be purchasing two more to be placed in the Special Enforcement vehicles and on Marine Patrol boats during the summer months.

Residents are encouraged to take note when entering the above facilities to see where the device is located. Emergency Preparedness Committee President Nancy Carroll has scheduled a CPR/First Aid Class for June 1, and is hoping to provide both a daytime class and evening class.

Contact DefibCanada to ensure your facility meets AED and PAD Standards.  We are Authorized providers of  AEDs and AED monitoring.  Our packaged solutions provide a full suite of services including First Aid and CPR training and AED consulting so companies and organizations of any size can protect their staff, clients, and communities.

 

AED saved life of Fort Worth baseball player

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Thank you John Henry on April 28, 2012

In his last regular-season high school baseball game Friday, Fort Worth Trimble Tech senior left fielder Luis Rubio chased down fly balls with a youthful enthusiasm typical of someone his age.

Thanks to quick-thinking, well-trained coaches and a trainer toting an AED, Rubio will be able chase his dreams with the zeal of a young man.

Rubio almost died after collapsing on the school track on Sept. 10, 2009. His heart had stopped beating.

Coaches Michael Garza and Tyson Wormsbaker administered CPR almost immediately.

Rubio’s life was saved by trainer Jason Braud, who with an automated external defibrillator brought his heart back into rhythm with an electric shock.

“I love my coaches,” Rubio said. “I’m grateful they knew how to take control and knew what to do in that situation and knew how to use the machines.”

While his family, friends, teachers and coaches celebrate his life every day, Rubio’s episode underscores the importance of AEDs on school campuses and the need for athletes — or anybody who leads a physically active life — to undergo testing to detect underlying problems with the heart.

The UIL requires that schools have an AED on campus.

“He more than likely wouldn’t be here” without the AED, Braud said of Rubio, echoing the sentiments of doctors who discovered that Rubio had a blockage to a main artery. He wasn’t getting enough blood flow to his body, and his heart eventually stopped beating.

Rubio underwent three surgeries to fix the problem, including open-heart surgery and a procedure to implant a defibrillator. He plays with a chest guard under his jersey.

Rubio’s condition might have been discovered through precautionary testing, said Ashley Long of Cypress ECG, which conducts cardiac testing of athletes. Long and a colleague were at Trimble Tech on Friday offering testing to athletes at a nominal fee of $15.

“We’re all about early detection,” Long said. “We want to catch these things before they end up in an unfortunate situation like Luis.”

For example, she said, “We’re trying to get kids screened to see if they show any signs of genetic abnormalities.”

Long said the Cypress’ results over the course of eight years are not alarming. Of more than 20,000 tests of young people, 95 percent have come back with no problems.

Only 0.5 percent show a clearly detectable problem that forces kids to quit competing immediately.

The other 4.5 percent were tests that indicated a possible abnormality that required more testing or a visit to a cardiologist. That’s not to suggest that the demographic had a problem, just a test result that suggested there could be a problem.

The Bulldogs and Rubio fell short in a 4-3 loss to Western Hills on Friday, though they’ll still enter the playoffs as District 7-4A co-champions.

Rubio, who is planning to enroll at UT Arlington and study civil engineering when he’s done studying at Tech, ran in from his position in left having earned a perspective of life more of a man twice his age.

He knows someone was looking after him that day. And he plans to pay him back.

“It opened my eyes about taking advantage of your second chances and to never give up,” he said.

“I think about that day every night … what if I’m gone tomorrow. I try to do everything right and my best every day so I have no regrets.”

How to save a life

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Thank you CARIE CANTERBURY on  April 27, 2012 

Cañon City School District Health Services Coordinator Linda Bennett RN and McKinley Elementary School Health Technician Sheila Tarnaski talks about the new Automates External Defibrillators on Thursday that will be placed in every school in the district. (Jeff Shane/Daily Record)

Every school in the Cañon City School District soon will be equipped with an Automated External Defibrillator thanks to some hefty grants and a couple of generous gifts.

District Health Services Coordinator Linda Bennett, RN, MSN, said five defibrillators were acquired through a grant through the American Red Cross, another was donated by Heartsmart Inc. and the seventh is a gift from the St. Thomas More Health Foundation.

“I’ve always wanted these, but the cost was prohibitive to put one in every building,” she said.

The defibrillators cost about $2,000 apiece.

“This is an amazing piece of technology,” she said. “Anyone in an emergency can use this — you hit the start button, and it tells you exactly what to do.”

The AEDs read the unconscious or unresponsive person’s heart rhythm and determine whether or not the heart requires a shock.

“It’s an amazing lifesaving device,” Bennett said.

The equipment will be placed in a location at each school, where staff and visitors will have access to it. At the high school, for example, Bennett said the AED will be mounted in the commons area so it can be easily and quickly accessed by those in the gymnasium, auditorium, classrooms, health office and even at the outdoor stadium.

“Probably the highest-risk population is kids involved in athletics that don’t know they have a heart condition or adults that would be there as spectators to sporting events,” Bennett said.

Sheila Tarnaski, health tech for McKinley Elementary School, said the AED will be available for groups that use the gymnasium and playground in the evenings for sporting practices, and family and community members who are at the school for different events.

Bennett expressed gratitude for the gift to the district, and she also offered kudos to Jody Enderle, health tech at Mountain View Core Knowledge School, for providing information about the Red Cross grant opportunity. Heartsmart Inc. also is offering a discounted rate to train 40 district staff members in CPR and AED.

Contact DefibCanada to ensure your facility meets AED and PAD Standards.  We are Authorized providers of  AEDs and AED monitoring.  Our packaged solutions provide a full suite of services including First Aid and CPR training and AED consulting so companies and organizations of any size can protect their staff, clients, and communities.

 

Building up a list of defibrillators to save more lives

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Thank you Rob Smyth on April 27, 2012

 

THE ambulance service which covers South Derbyshire has urged organisations and community groups which have defibrillators to make sure the devices are registered.

Ambulance

East Midlands Ambulance Service made the plea as the more information it has on the location of the Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) the better life saving advice it can offer.

The equipment is used to deliver an electric shock to the heart when someone has gone into cardiac arrest.

Ambulance crews and community first responders are trained to use them to help save lives, but with guidance from an ambulance control call taker and the audio instructions put out by the defibrillator, a member of public the can use the equipment in an emergency while the ambulance crew travels to the scene.

Some major employers, sports clubs and community groups in the county also have their own on-site defibrilliators and EMAS is looking to build a detailed database of all locations in the county.

Pete Winson, the service’s community defibrillator officer, said: “We’re working with the British Heart Foundation and the National Defibrillator Programme to map the location and availability of defibrillators in Derbyshire.

“We know that some community groups and organisations have held fund-raising initiatives and purchased defibrillators, but some may not have remembered to tell us.

“We need to know so that if we receive a 999 call from the area, we can tell the caller there is a defibrillator nearby and treatment can begin. Knowing the location of all defibrillators in the county will help save more lives.”

Currently EMAS knows the location of 15 static AED sites within Derbyshire.

The plea after research showed that 13 per cent of all workplace casualties were cardiac arrest victims and, for each minute that passes without defibrillation, the chances of survival falls by up to 10 per cent.

Organisations and community groups in the county which have access to a defibrillator are being asked to send full contact details, including a contact name, the location and address with postcode of where the defibrillator is kept, to peter.winson@emas.nhs.uk

Contact DefibCanada to ensure your facility meets AED and PAD Standards.  We are Authorized providers of  AEDs and AED monitoring.  Our packaged solutions provide a full suite of services including First Aid and CPR training and AED consulting so companies and organizations of any size can protect their staff, clients, and communities.

 

Neighbors save a life

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Thank you Matt Coughlin on April 23, 2012
If it wasn’t for his neighbors, Richard Carr would be dead.

 

He was running errands around Quakertown on Jan. 19 when his chest started feeling tight. About 4 p.m. the 56-year-old went back to his home on the 8700 block of Easton Road in Nockamixon. He said his chest hurt. He said his heart hurt. He thought he needed to lie down and rest. But after a few minutes he wasn’t getting any better.

His wife, Susan Carr, called 911.

About 47 percent of cardiac deaths occur outside a hospital, a sign that many people don’t act on the early warning signs of a heart attack, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And while about 92 percent of Americans know that chest pain is a symptom of a heart attack, only 27 percent know the other symptoms: pain spreading elsewhere, nausea, dizziness, anxiety and shortness of breath. Carr was experiencing more than one.

When Shannon Pressley of the Upper Bucks Regional Emergency Medical Services heard emergency radio dispatchers broadcasting a medical emergency on the 8700 block of Easton Road, she thought, “That’s got to be one of our neighbors.”

For six years Pressley has been an emergency medical technician following the lead of a paramedic like Barb Stebulis, who’s been a paramedic since 1985. Paramedics are normally partnered with an EMT in each ambulance. He or she has a higher level of training than an EMT that enables them to give medications and do invasive life-saving procedures that EMTs cannot. The paramedic usually makes the decisions on treating the patient and the EMT follows his or her lead.

That Thursday was Pressley’s first day calling the shots. She had just finished her training and the emergency next door was going to be the first time she was in charge in a life and death emergency.

Pressley stepped outside the rescue squad building. She looked around to see if anyone was waving for help. Stebulis ran to the ambulance and started it up.

The new paramedic spotted Susan waving. She ran around a fence to the Carrs’ house. Stebulis drove the ambulance down the rescue squad’s driveway and back up Carr’s driveway. They were on scene in a minute.

“He didn’t look good,” Pressley said. “He was sitting there, he looked really sick. Anytime someone describes the pain (of a heart attack) they make a fist. And he had this fist,” Pressley said, balling her hand in front of her chest.

They wanted to get him in the ambulance. He wanted to walk but they convinced him to lean back on a stretcher.

Pressley and Stebulis pushed him out to the driveway and then up into the ambulance.

There they hooked Carr up to a “12-lead,” a cardiac monitor that allows the ambulance crew to get a look at a patient’s heart from 12 different points of view. That way they can determine how much of someone’s heart is failing. Seven of the 12 shots showed a heart in failure.

“We were so very sure this was not going to go well,” said Stebulis.

A crew of Ottsville Volunteer Fire Co. firefighters were on their way back from a visit to the post office when they heard the dispatch so close to the rescue squad. So the firefighters hurried to the Carrs’ home to lend a hand if it was needed. The emergency community in Upper Bucks is small and more hands are always welcome.

“I was so grateful to see them that day,” Pressley said.

The two paramedics knew it was going to take both of them to keep Carr alive, so one firefighter, DJ Stahley, jumped behind the wheel of the ambulance. Firefighter Zack Major climbed in the back.

Stahley started driving south to Doylestown Hospital. Pressley gave Carr some medication and got an IV into him.

The readings still weren’t good.

Then Carr’s heart stopped.

Carr was hooked up to the medical equipment in the ambulance. Pressley shocked Carr with a defibrillator. Then Major got on top of Carr and started aggressively slamming his hands down on Carr’s chest. Major, 20, finished training as an EMT in December. This was a first for him too. Before Jan. 19, he’d only done CPR on dummies.

Stebulis got a breathing mask over Carr’s face. She started squeezing a bag attached to the mask to force air into Carr’s lungs.

Pressley injected nitroglycerin into Carr.

She watched the monitors. She kept her finger on the button of the defibrillator. They needed Carr’s heart to get going again.

Pressley told Major to keep up the compressions and in a moment Carr’s heart was pumping.

Now he started struggling.

Stebulis said sometimes patients who were unconscious are afraid, or sometimes there’s a physical or chemical cause that makes their body lash out.

Carr hadn’t been getting oxygen into his body and Pressley said he didn’t have control over what he was doing — “nobody was home,” she said. They held him down until it passed.

Pressley kept an eye on the monitors for the 17-minute drive from Nockamixon to Doylestown Hospital. Carr spent four days in a medically-induced coma while doctors put stints in his arteries. While in the hospital, his heart stopped four more times. But the doctors and nurses were there to keep him going. It’s been three months, and Carr said he’s still recovering. He just started driving again. And he’s in therapy three days a week, Susan said.

If it hadn’t been for his neighbors, he never would have made it this far, he said.

According to the American Heart Association, cardiac arrest can be reversed with CPR and/or defibrillation. But getting to the victim quickly is vital.

“If he would have had to wait 10 minutes more he wouldn’t be here today,” Susan said, her arm on her husband’s shoulder as they recounted the terrifying day.

On April 5 the Carrs met with Pressley, Stebulis, Major and Stahley at the rescue squad station.

“You look good,” Pressley told Carr as she stood on her toes to embrace him. “Better than before.”

Pressley and Stebulis had just finished a day shift in the ambulance and were happy to see Carr.

Carr had big — but gentle — hugs for Pressley and Stebulis as they stood in the Upper Bucks Rescue station.

“My heart stopped in the driveway, twice in the ER, it stopped four times,” Carr said. “If it wasn’t for their services ...” but he didn’t need to finish the sentence.

The Carrs thanked the life-savers, and Richard Carr handed them each a plaque from the American Heart Association.

“It was just going from being told what to do, to doing multiple things at one time while overseeing the whole scene too — I had to watch everybody,” Pressley said of the stresses of the new position.

As the Carrs spoke with the paramedics there were teary eyes and handshakes and hugs. But Pressley had to leave. She had a night shift with another rescue squad.

Contact DefibCanada to ensure your facility meets AED and PAD Standards.  We are Authorized providers of  AEDs and AED monitoring.  Our packaged solutions provide a full suite of services including First Aid and CPR training and AED consulting so companies and organizations of any size can protect their staff, clients, and communities.

 

Salem Fire/Rescue to host CPR/AED course

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Thank you Darren Hillock on April 22nd, 2012

Salem Fire/Rescue will be hosting an American Heart Association Heartsaver CPR/AED course on May 17,  at 6 p.m. at the Trevor Station/Highway Department building   11252 254th Ct. (off of Highway C), Trevor, said fire Chief Mike Slover.

Cost of the course is $40 per person and class size is limited to 12 students.

This course is a 3-4 hour course which combines basic CPR skills training with instruction and practice in using an AED. Course covers: Adult CPR/AED with and without a mask, Adult Choking, Child CPR/AED, infant CPR/AED, and Child/Infant Choking. It is intended for individuals who have a duty to respond to a cardiac emergency because of job responsibilities or regulatory requirements, lay rescuers who may need to respond to an emergency in the workplace, family members of patients at high risk for sudden cardiac death, and other individuals who want or need CPR training.

To assure your place in the class, you must pre-register for the class by contacting Terry Bluemel or a CPR Instructor at 843-2439. Additional classes will be offered throughout the year with information on the Salem website. www.townofsalem.net Groups that would like to schedule a class together and individuals looking for a self-paced option can be accommodated by contacting the above number.

Contact DefibCanada to ensure your facility meets AED and PAD Standards.  We are Authorized providers of  AEDs and AED monitoring.  Our packaged solutions provide a full suite of services including First Aid and CPR training and AED consulting so companies and organizations of any size can protect their staff, clients, and communities.

 

Danville Rotary Club Donation Helps District Get AED in Every School

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Thank you Terry Parris Jr. on April 20, 2012

Danville Patch

Automatic External Defibrillators increase survival rate in sudden cardiac arrest and now, thanks to a donation by the Danville Rotary Club, every school building in the district has one.

 

Every school in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District is now equipped with Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs), thanks to a $3,733 grant from the Danville Rotary Club.

The grant allowed the district to purchase two AEDs.

According to the SRVUSD’s Community Relations Director Terry Koehne, other AEDs have been provided through grants from the San Ramon Regional Hospital, the PTA, and prior Rotary donations.

There are a total of 45 AED units throughout the district with an additional eight more supplied by the City of San Ramon and the Town of Danville at joint use facilities.

Koehne said in an email to Danville Patch that sudden cardiac arrest could strike adults and children of any age or fitness level. Each year in the U.S. 7,000 young people die due to sudden cardiac arrest. Resuscitation without immediate shock from an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) is exceptionally rare.

Additionally, schools don’t have an medical doctors or EMTs on campus during school hours and during after-school activities but the schools can afford to have easy-to-use AED defibrillators with voice prompts to walk users through the simple steps necessary in life-saving defibrillation and CPR.

A smartphone app developed by the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District, now ran by the nonprofit PulsePoint (founded by SRVFPD Chief Richard Price), allows users to locate these AEDs quickly.

The app, available both on iPhones and Android platforms, also alerts people trained in CPR if someone nearby has a sudden cardiac arrest. This application has been nominated for a Webby Award, which is probably the Internet’s most distinguished award, in the “Best Use of GPS or Location Technology” category. People can vote online for the “Webby People’s Voice Award” by going here. The winners will be announced May 1.

Contact DefibCanada to ensure your facility meets AED and PAD Standards.  We are Authorized providers of  AEDs and AED monitoring.  Our packaged solutions provide a full suite of services including First Aid and CPR training and AED consulting so companies and organizations of any size can protect their staff, clients, and communities.

 

So close to death… fighting for a law change to help everyone

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Thank you Louise Small on April 14, 2012

The younger brother of footballing legend George Best has spoken of the dramatic moments he collapsed and nearly died.

He revealed his life was saved by the use of a cardiac defibrillator and now wants to see more of the lifesaving devices in public places.

Ian Best (45) had a cardiac arrest on holiday last year and is now spearheading a campaign to have chest defibrillators made widely available across the UK.

Mr Best said he nearly died but for the quick thinking of a stranger and the use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).

“Last January I had a cardiac arrest while I was away on a short break to Blackpool with my wife Tracy — I could have died.

“Within one minute and 38 seconds I was shocked back to life,” he said.

Mr Best said he now wants to see AEDs as widely available as fire extinguishers. He said: “I want to try and get it made law that if you have a fire extinguisher, you should also have an AED.”

Since his life was saved he has started a drive to raise awareness of the importance of the machines and the need for them to be widely available in public places.

Mr Best had to stay in hospital for 10 days and had an Internal Cardio Defibrillator installed after his collapse.

He immediately investigated how many AEDs were available in public places and was shocked to find there were so few.

“I decided to start a campaign in my area; it has now gone throughout the UK and beyond,” he said.

Ian is registering his charity this week and wants to continue to raise awareness of the importance of the devices.

He said: “Fabrice Muamba’s collapse at a football match highlighted the need for defibrillators.”

School Nurse and Teacher Save Hannum Student’s Life

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Thank you Lorraine Swanson on April 13, 2012

On a beautiful Leap Day morning 9-year-old Caitlyn O’Reilly’s own heart took a leap of sorts, causing the girl to collapse on the playground of Hannum Elementary School.

If not for the quick thinking actions of a teacher and school nurse, and a nearby automated external defibrillator or AED—Caitlyn’s survival of a potentially fatal heart arrhythmia is pure serendipity.

“It was such a shock at first and then it was so amazing that she made it,” Caitlyn’s mother, Joanne O’Reilly said, who was on her way to lunch when she received a call from the school on her cell phone. “Ninety-eight percent don’t survive it.”

Born with a complex form of birth heart defect involving switching pumping chambers and great arteries with a hole in the heart, the Oak Lawn girl is no stranger to Advocate Hope Children’s Hospital. Caitlyn has already undergone a sophisticated repair by Hope Children’s cardiovascular surgeons.

Until the morning of Feb. 29, however, Caitlyn had never shown the potential for a fatal arrhythmia. Playing with two young friends at recess, Caitlyn “stared blankly” and fell over, her mother said.

“[Her friends] thought she was kidding around,” Joanne continued. “Then they got scared and knew she needed help.”

After Caitlyn’s friends alerted the recess supervisor that she had collapsed, a gym teacher and nurse moved into swift action.

School nurse Therese Carberry administered CPR while gym teacher Gregory Guzzo grabbed the school’s AED, a device that diagnoses and treats potentially fatal arrhythmias and allows the heart to reestablish an effective rhythm.

Confirming the presence of a lethal arrhythmia, the AED was activated to shock Caitlyn and restore the activity of her heart muscle. The device ultimately saved her life in the interim of waiting for paramedics to arrive on the scene.

Any delay in diagnosing and treating Caitlyn’s arrhythmia could have resulted in her death, her mother said.

“I’m so thankful [the school] had it and knew how to use it,” Joanne O’Reilly said. “The gym teacher kept his calm and knew exactly what to.”

Caitlyn was rushed to Hope, where her pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Tarek Husayni, stabilized her condition

“Upon arrival to our hospital, Caitlyn was unresponsive, intubated and ventilated to support her breathing,” Dr. Husayni said. “Analysis of respiratory gases in her blood showed that the period of cardiac arrest was brief and it did not result in major dysfunction.”

At first there was concern that a lack of blood flow to her brain may have caused brain damage, but “we found that Caitlyn’s lack of circulation was short enough to most probably not cause any significant, serious damage to her organs.”

Thursday, Caitlyn underwent a procedure at Hope to have an ICD—a combination pace maker and defibrullator—placed in her heart. The device will help determine what caused the near fatal heart arrhythmia.

Except for a mild problem with short-term memory loss, Caitlyn has few complications from her Leap Day ordeal.

“If Caitlyn’s school did not have a defibrillator, she might not be here with us today. The AED truly served as a gift of life for Caitlyn and prevented a near sure death,” Dr. Husayni said.

Sudden cardiac arrest strikes approximately 7,000 children in the United States every year. Often these children, like Caitlyn, fall victim while at school or on a playing field.

Many states, including Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania, are mandating the placement of AEDs in schools. Other states have pending legislation.

Joanne gave Advocate Hope permission to release information about her daughter’s experience to bring greater awareness of the importance of having the life-saving AEDs on hand at schools and other public places.

“In a way it happened in the best possible place rather than at home because the AED saved her life,” Joanne said. “The devices are relatively inexpensive and easy to use.”

Contact DefibCanada to ensure your facility meets AED and PAD Standards.  We are Authorized providers of  AEDs and AED monitoring.  Our packaged solutions provide a full suite of services including First Aid and CPR training and AED consulting so companies and organizations of any size can protect their staff, clients, and communities.

 

Lifesaving devices needed; let’s make it happen

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Thank you Editorial Board on April 12, 2012

Thank the Lord for the automated external defibrillator, a device that — in the hands of a hero — saved the life of a Mitchell man last month.

Wayne Klinger, 71, was exercising at the Mitchell Recreation Center March 29 when he suffered a heart stoppage. Rec Center staffer Jamie Henkel revived Klinger with the use of the AED, a device that uses paddles to monitor patients and determine whether a lifesaving jolt is needed to restart an ailing heart.

With Klinger, it was needed. Oh boy, was it needed. And after Henkel and the AED gave him the necessary kick start, Klinger’s heart restarted, his pulse returned and his life was properly saved.

What a great story, and we cannot heap enough credit upon Henkel and the staff at the Recreation Center. This really is a big deal, and worthy of congratulations.

Also, we commend the decision-makers who chose to spend the money and install the AED at the Recreation Center and numerous other city buildings in the first place. That was foresight, and those people, too, are heroes. Good for them.

Now, as the excitement of this lifesaving effort subsides, we need to consider where AEDs are located in Mitchell and whether more are needed.

Klinger himself was quoted in The Daily Republic as saying that all public buildings should have the device. We couldn’t agree more, although most city buildings do have the device.

But is there a void? And if so, can public entities make the purchase or would private money be required?

Would a fundraiser help? Even if only one additional AED is purchased and placed in a key location, it may be the device that actually saves a life, or the very apparatus that helps grandpa get home safe and sound. If there is a void, The Daily Republic would be glad to help in this effort. Would others be so inclined? Let’s see what we can do.

Contact DefibCanada to ensure your facility meets AED and PAD Standards.  We are Authorized providers of  AEDs and AED monitoring.  Our packaged solutions provide a full suite of services including First Aid and CPR training and AED consulting so companies and organizations of any size can protect their staff, clients, and communities.