In the age of technology, more heart attack victims are becoming survivors of heart attacks.
A decade ago, heart attack victims did not have a high survival rate due to the fact that CPR alone was not sufficient for paramedics to revive the patient. Each year in the United States alone, an estimated 350,000 victims die from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). – almost a thousand people every day – often because life-saving defibrillation does not reach them in time. Every minute of delay reduces the chance of an SCA victim surviving by 10 percent. After just ten minutes, more than 90 percent of SCA victims will die if they are not defibrillated.
In 1997, automated external cardiac defibrillators (AEDs) were developed for use in businesses and airlines to prevent this tragedy from occurring. AEDs are smaller defibrillators that send electrical shocks to the heart, like those seen on the television show ER. Studies show that survival rates of over 75 percent can be achieved if an AED is used within the first three minutes after a cardiac arrest. In the last ten years, AEDs have become more and more available in public places, including parks, golf courses, businesses, residential areas, churches and schools.
Other Medical is one company that provides AEDs to the public. Located in the Tampa Bay, Florida area, Altra Medical has been providing AEDs to businesses and schools since 2001. Other Medical has worked hard to get the word out from important businesses to have access to AEDs for their employees and patrons.
We will make direct contact, direct mail or phone contact people we think are in business or the facilities they have. They will likely be candidates,” said Leslie Littell, President of Altra Medical. For example, facilities that have over 200 people would have a cardiac arrest once in five years. Sports facilities and health clubs are places where the heart is enlightened. I put those places probably.”
Since the development of AEDs, the American Heart Association (AHA) has developed programs to teach CPR classes. use AEDs. In 2005, the AHA developed new guidelines to update the use of both CPR and AEDs. The biggest change is the compression of the chest to the lungs. The AHA 2005 guidelines state that “the first universal compression-ventilation ratio (30:2) is recommended for all individual rescuers of infants, children, and adults (excluding fetuses).
Lattimer said the following shocks have also been updated. State regulations now allow for CPR delivery, shock delivery, recovery and restart. All AEDs are now programmed differently to comply with this and old ones are updated to comply with the regulations.
“We work with all of our customers to keep everything updated,” Lattimer said of AEDs sold before the 2005 AHA updates.
Another development was made by Altra Medical as the brand of Philips AEDs, which were developed in 2003. Lattimer said Philips is the first AED manufacturer to offer CPR training; They offer newer AEDs that are smaller, weigh less, are easier to use, and are less expensive; and the first to sell the house for use.
“You can get a unit house for about $1,200-$1,275,” he said. “(The new AEDs) makes it easier for lay responders to use them. They’ve been great.”
Lattimer also said Phillips was the first company to develop pediatric pads for AEDs and provide them to all other vendors.
“There are between 5,000 – 7,000 children who die from SCA,” Lattimer said, which makes this new promotion a necessity.
“Another development Philip developed was a technology called ‘quick,'” Lattimer continued. Philippians can shoot in 800 seconds of the second, so that the other 30 seconds are opposed.”
Philip sold about 370,000 AEDs. Lattimer said they were the world leader and outsold all other companies.
“(The use for AEDs) is expanding beyond airports now,” Lattimer said. “Many states have mandated them for their schools. Florida requires them for all of their schools that participate in the Florida Athletic Association (in high schools).
Almost every city has some type of program in place to make AEDs available in public schools. In 1999, Project Adam Wisconsin was developed in the name of Adam Lemel, one of three high school athletes who collapsed and died playing competitive sports. On April 16, 2000, Matthew Bostic, a Boca Ciega High School student in Pinellas County, Florida died of cardiac arrest on the track and field event. After a giant fundraiser in Matt’s name raised $9,000, his mother, Patty Latimer, decided to use the funds for SCAs research and contacted the American Heart Association.
Latimer learned from Littella and other doctors. Boca Ciega has set up facilities to be available at the school and for training for those who use it, including teachers, staff members and members of the athletic department such as coaches and athletic trainers who attend events. .
After the death of Adam Lemel in Wisconsin David Ellis, a long time friend, started an effort to start public access defibrillation (PAD) programs. in school sports throughout Wisconsin. Public access means accessibility for trained users to use AEDs in public places. It does not mean that anyone from the public can use the SCA technology.
As Ellis began the program, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin began planning an effort to bring PAD programs to schools. David’s shared vision is to have Children’s Hospital programming in every Wisconsin high school. That vision, with the help of several organizations, is becoming a reality.
Polk and Pasco Counties in Florida have PAD programs to place AEDs in counties and parks.
“Parks and recreation facilities are supposed to have defibrillators in them,” Lattimer said. “American Heart continues to do a lot of fundraising for those programs.”
Since the development of AEDs, many high schools have begun to have AED training in relation to CPR as part of health care. . The graduation requirement was made in all sixteen Pinellas County, Florida high schools.
An important factor in the safety and performance of an AED is the machine’s ability to accurately assess the patient’s heart and make the appropriate decision. A defibrillator performs this assessment by sensing electrical signals from the patient’s heart through electrodes and using a computer algorithm to interpret the electrical signals. he nodded.
“One of Philips’ smart technologies is CPR,” said Lattimer. “What it does is, it will look at the patient’s condition and decide whether to start CPR first or to shock the patient first. Medical studies look at the fact that the longer a person is down, the heart will benefit from doing CPR first. That is something that the machine built into the machine allows to decide.
AEDs guide users through the defibrillation process with verbal commands. Defibrillation pads are placed on the victim’s bare chest in two places so that the device can analyze the heart rhythm and determine if a stroke is indicated. The diagrams on the pads indicate where they should be placed in the box. If a stroke is indicated, the machine instructs the user to press the button to rescue the stroke.
“You have a physician who oversees the program,” Littell said.
The doctor, or at least the medical director, will scan the data card that is on the machines.
“Some teams want to do EMS,” Littell added. “But in medical times, a lot of the controller will oversee the event.”
Many organizations, including the American Red Cross, now recognize defibrillation as the key to saving a SCA victim’s life and consider it the next logical step in first aid. Medical assistants use AEDs in public places on a daily basis by those who are trained in their use.
“I think it’s amazing,” said Dr. Jim Irwin, an electrophysiologist in Tampa, Florida. “I’m for it.”
Dr. Irwin treats patients who have abnormal heart rhythms. His work involves the use of cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) and pacemakers.
“We sent one (AED) home to a patient after we removed her infected ICD until she could get a new one,” said Dr. Irwin.
Dr. Irwin said CPR is good for keeping oxygen flowing to the brain until a defibrillator can be used, but the defibrillator is what gets the heart going. AEDs have saved hundreds of lives, including more than 200 people on airlines.
“There have been some amazing success-story”>success stories if you can get to one quickly,” says Littell.
Other Medical offers many different Philips AED models for businesses, schools and homes on their website, along with CPR and AED training classes taught by the American Heart Association. Readers can visit their website at www.altramedical.com and see available AEDs and CPR/AED classes.
It is important that more public places install AEDs. They are an important part of the chain of survival for people who suffer from sudden cardiac arrest. The use of a defibrillator incorporating CPR can save many lives. Due to the number of deaths from SCAs, public places, businesses and schools cannot afford to train them in their facilities.
