San Diego took a giant step toward its goal of becoming “America’s Safest City” this week when the city council voted unanimously to require new buildings — including stores, churches, hotels, restaurants, schools, and theaters — to install automated external defibrillators (AEDs) for public use.
“Having AEDs readily accessible would reduce the response time for emergency care and save more lives,” council member Jim Madaffer said. He’d been advocating for the sweeping legislation for the past year.
San Diego’s “heart safe” mentality is hardly news for those of us at Cardiac Science who’ve been working with Project Heart Beat, an initiative started in 2001 by Madaffer and others. In the past seven years, Project Heart Beat has purchased and distributed more than 4,000 Cardiac Science Powerheart defibrillators — an AED defibrillator has rescued 52 people in San Diego county.
One of the aims of the new legislation is to make defibrillator technology readily accessible in high-rise buildings. While urban density increases the likelihood of sudden cardiac arrest incidents occurring in residential and commercial high-rises, complex layouts and busy elevators in these buildings can delay emergency medical teams. Having a defibrillator, and trained staff, on the premises increases the chances that defibrillation can be carried out in the critical first few minutes after sudden cardiac arrest.
The San Diego measure had been opposed by county builders, commercial landlords, and building managers. They noted that a California state law requiring building owners to train employees in AED use presented difficulties for some them. In addition, they were concerned about possible liability for using defibrillators; California’s “Good Samaritan” law protects people who use an AED to help someone in distress, but is due to end Jan. 1, 2013. Madaffer said he will be working to get that legislative extended.
San Diego’s public-access defibrillator (PAD) program has long been one of the leaders in the U.S. By tackling the problem of heart safety in urban high-rises, San Diego is setting an example we hope other cities will soon emulate.
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- Cardiac Science AEDs in Spain [VIDEO] - April 4th, 2011
- Cardiac Science wins first major public access defibrillation program in Europe - March 30th, 2011
- Georgia Park saves 5 lives with AEDs - March 24th, 2011
- Sad stories, avoidable deaths? - March 23rd, 2011
- Texas school's AED saves 6-year-old's life - March 22nd, 2011
May 28th, 2010 at 11:29 am
The “California Good Samaritan Law Regarding AED units” is found in CA Civil Code 1714.21. It is not true that this law is scheduled to expire on January 1, 2013. However, it is true that the CA Health and Safety section 1797.196, which contains a list of training, maintenance, testing and medical oversight is scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2013, unless it is repealed by SB 1281.
In addition, if CA SB 1281 passes, it will amend CA Civil Code 1714.21 to remove all references to CA Health and Safety 1797.196. However, then we Californians will still have CA Code of Regulations Title 22, Diviion 9, Chapter 1.8 “Lay Rescuer Automated External Defibrillator Regulations” to follow because they went into effect on January 8, 2009.