Every school should have an automated heart defibrillator (AED). These machines save the soul; without them the survival statistics are dismal. Up to 95% of people die when the heart stops and the device is not in place. In American schools, up to 9,000 students die each year due to sudden cardiac problems. Help should come within 5 minutes when the heart stops; often the ambulance does not arrive within that time. Survival rates dramatically lower second blocked heart waiting for a shock from an AED to bring him back to life. An AED costs $2,000 to $3,000. Every school should make these devices a priority. All states require engineering schools. Physical education of athletes should also include an echocardiogram, which could indicate heart ailments that can cause sudden death during physical activity.
One day after school I was trying to find my keys after signing into the main office. As I looked up after finding my keys I noticed a portable heart defibrillator going up the wall right in front of me. The little red fabric had a heart printed on it and as I looked at it all I could think was “Isn’t it amazing that something so small can save a life”. The portable machine is easy to use and actually has voice instructions on how to use the machine in an emergency.
The sight of the portable defibrillator brought tears to my eyes. My mother had some rare heart arrhythmias and her heart had the unfortunate habit of beating irregularly at times as a result of going in and out. they require immediate medical attention. When the heart “flutters” the beat becomes erratic and irregular and the patient is unconscious, without a pulse. That never happened when he was with me (thank God). But when the arrhythmia was already diagnosed and she could no longer drive, I spent a lot of time driving her around and whenever we went together, I always took a moment while we were starting to think about where the next hospital was. we were heading for the area.
Heart arrhythmia is sudden. A cousin told me that one night over dinner one moment they were talking about spaghetti, and the next he had his head down on the kitchen table< /a> and he didn’t know. One day he said to me “I don’t know what happened, I’m a gardener and then I came and I was on the ground and the dog was licking my face.” Jesus was greatly disturbed by these things; I remain grateful that I have never seen it in person
Eventually, he had a defibrillator implanted in his machine to keep his heart beating regularly. Sometimes it went away, which again took hold of her beating heart, but sometimes it made her conscious of shock and pain. I went through this for years and I was somehow happy because I knew to appreciate every moment that I had my Mother, because it was clear that she was not going to be there forever. His ability to stay alive seemed precarious as to whether the often necessary medical attention would come soon enough. During those days, when that doctor had frequent accidents in his town he closed the hospital (to save money); then the nearest hospital was further away on a busy road.
During that time I grew to hate the sound of the phone ringing, especially at odd hours. On one business trip to California when I was called home unexpectedly when he was not hospitalized. It wasn’t until I was at the airport stop that I realized my luggage had been left at the desk in the lobby. My nerves were a bit shaken and that flight from California back East was the longest of my life, because I didn’t know if I would get home to some bad news.
The summer before he graduated from college was the beginning of his heart problems. He was very young. The first day I was in the hospital, I happened to be on a field trip to the Bronx Zoo when I was heading to camp. in my summer job I was completely helpless and by the time I arrived there was a note on top of other notes that said: Go to the hospital immediately.
I know all too well how the presence of a heart defibrillator in a school is between life and death. Sometimes a heart problem arises completely unexpectedly and if the ambulance does not arrive, the patient’s heart must be brought back quickly enough to shock, so that the patient dies again. A portable defibrillator on site can literally be the difference between life and death. A small machine may sit on the wall unused for years, but to be needed one day, its price will often be measured in millions.
Every school should have heart defibrillators on site. Alas, very few schools have them. I was very surprised to see the machine that day and now every time I see the machine or signs about it that are posted around the building it warms my heart.
Heart arrhythmias often appear without warning. The first sign may be sudden death. Often in the news is a student who died unexpectedly in a gym class or during a gym activity due to a heart arrhythmia that was never diagnosed before the death.
Thus, having portable heart defibrillators in all schools is an urgent necessity. Anyone who works in finance should find a way to get the machines. Galba’s operations could generate money; If parents knew the value of devices in times of crisis, they would demand them from their child’s school.
Sometimes a child dies due to an unexpected cardiac arrest and the failure of a defibrillator at school is an epic tragedy. How horrible it must be to wait for an ambulance to see a child lying on the ground with a non-functioning heart, when life is quickly fading away, and know that if a heart defibrillator was in place to shock the child’s heart into that child’s act. he could live There is nothing available to save life; it is a tragedy if a child dies because the school district did not have the foresight to include an automated external defibrillator in its budget.
Be ready; I encourage school districts to install defibrillators. Call your parents and councilors, and urge lawmakers to mandate that all schools have a defibrillator on site. fund raisers to raise money to buy machines for the school.
