The statistic that 450,000 people are victims of massive heart
attacks every year is a sobering one. Now, consider that among
that group, approximately 225,000 people die each year without
warning due to sudden cardiac arrest. As you can see, 50%
of the people suffering such an event die. This puts into
perspective just how deadly these events may be to anyone
of us.
The good news is that there is a relatively
new "wonder weapon" for countering the effects of sudden cardiac
arrest and lessening the death rate. This device is called
an automated external defibrillator or AED for short. AED's
work by automatically analyzing the heart rhythms of a cardiac
arrest victim and directing the user to press a button on
the device that will deliver an electric shock to restore
a normal heartbeat. However, there is more to this wonder
weapon than the ability to deliver an electric shock. As the
AED automatically analyzes the heart rhythms of a cardiac
arrest victim, it will automatically determine cases where
no shock is necessary, and it will not allow one to be delivered
in those cases.
The American Heart Association, http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1200000
as well as the Federal government, strongly recommends that
automated public-access defibrillators (AEDs) be placed in
every workplace to increase survivability. Statistics from
recent studies show that access to AED's may increase the
survivability of a massive heart attack by up to 40%! In addition,
studies show that for every minute that passes before a victim
of a sudden cardiac arrest is defibrillated, the chances of
survival drop by as much as 10 percent. Those are ample reasons
to have AED's in or very near your workplace.
Most Federal agencies are establishing defibrillation
programs to comply with the requirements of the Cardiac Arrest
Survival Act of 2000, which directed the placement of AED's
in federal buildings around the nation. This Federal law directs
the Department of Health and Human Services to develop guidelines
for placing automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in federal
buildings, nation-wide. It also establishes "good Samaritan"
provisions which provide protection from liability issues
in those states which do not have such protection on the books.
As an example, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) recently awarded Cardiac Science, www.cardiacscience.com,
a leading manufacturer of life-saving AED's, a multi-year
contract to supply AED's, provide comprehensive training,
and AED program management services for its facilities throughout
the country.
The number of victims of massive heart attacks
appears to be rising, and unfortunately, we are saving on
average only about 5 percent of these victims. However, there
is something we can do about that tragic statistic. Implement
a comprehensive AED program at your worksite and make it easier
for us to use AED's to help save the lives of our fellow workers!
The bottom line - AED's save lives!
This page was last updated on
January 10, 2011
