April 2001
Are You Prepared ?
Imagine an emergency-suddenly, Walter, one of your company's employees, collapses from sudden cardiac arrest. It could happen. Nearly 300,000 Americans die from sudden cardiac arrest every year. Heart attack, electrical shock, and drowning are just few of the potential causes of sudden cardiac arrest. 300,000 Americans is equivalent to about three 747s crashing each day. Approximately 30 percent of these deaths occur in the work place.
About 45 percent of all cardiac arrest victims die, usually because their heart begins to quiver uncontrollably and can't pump blood. Unless Walter's normal heartbeat is restored in five to seven minutes, he will likely die too.
The good news is that cardiac emergencies don't have to turn into tragedies. With prompt, proper care with CPR and a device called a defibrillator, the American Heart Association estimates that the lives of as many as 50,000 cardiac arrest victims, and maybe Walter, can be saved each year. With proper training, you and your employees can be prepared to provide emergency care that makes a critical difference. Maybe even the difference between life and death.
This quivering of the heart is most often ventricular fibrillation or VF. Nearly 90 percent of all sudden cardiac arrest victims are in VF prior to cardiac standstill. The only effective treatment for VF is to defibrillate him or her. This technique of giving an electrical shock can restore the heart's normal rhythm if it is done within minutes of the arrest. For every minute that passes without defibrillation, a victim's chances of survival decreases by 7-10 percent. After as little as ten minutes, very few resuscitation attempts are successful.
Traditionally, the ability to defibrillate in an out-of-hospital event was solely in the hands of emergency medical personnel.
Unfortunately, quick EMS responses are not always possible. Even the very best EMS system experiences delays from heavy traffic, secured buildings, gated communities, large building complexes and high-rises. Some cities with heavy traffic flows may experience response times of twelve minutes or greater. Not surprisingly, the cardiac arrest survival rate is less than two percent.
Today recent advances in technology have given rise to a new generation of defibrillators that are smaller, lighter, more affordable and easier to use. These new devices are known as automated external defibrillators, or AEDs.
The American Heart Association and the American Red Cross have developed a course that couples the use of an AED into the conventional CPR course that can easily be taught in 3 1/2 to 4 hours.
There's nothing more precious than life itself. To safeguard the lives of employees and others on your premises, you need to be prepared for a cardiac emergency. The best way to do that is by establishing an AED program for your facility and offer the training to your employees today.
The new AEDs are safe, effective, lightweight, low maintenance and easy to use-so easy a sixth grade student can easily learn-and relatively inexpensive (about $3,000 to $3,500 each). By having this device in the industrial setting, precious minutes can and will be saved, thus improving survival rates for cardiac arrest victims.
For more information, please contact your local American Heart Association Chapter, American Red Cross Chapter or John Grolich at Plymouth Fire and EMS 219-936-8291.
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