Our weekly update on news in the world of heart safety and noninvasive cardiology

Video of sudden cardiac arrest survivors makes the case for AEDs

A high school junior on her way home from school; an umpire at a fast-pitch softball game; a 45-year-old woman enjoying her birthday dinner at a restaurant.

All were seemingly healthy — until they collapsed from sudden cardiac arrest.

All three were saved by CPR and a shock from an automated external defibrillator (AED). They were among the fortunately eight percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims who receive the necessary rescue treatment in the critical period of 10 minutes after they collapse.

One million AEDs are deployed in the US.

With the above video, the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association aims to inspire all of us to advocate for placing AEDs in public places and feeling confident about using them.

Study finds AEDs “highly effective” in Munich subway system

A seven-year study of automated external defibrillator (AED) use in the Munich subway system concluded that the devices are “highly effective and safe for the acute treatment of patients with cardiac arrest.” Results of the study were presented May 13 the Heart Rhythm 2009 conference in Boston.

Beginning in 2001, 44 defibrillators were installed at 37 subway stations in Munich. In the seven years looked at in the research, AEDs were used in 17 incidents.

Of the 14 incidents that were cardiac arrest, 12 of the 14 victims (86 percent) were resuscitated and admitted to the hospital. The study noted that despite some concern about the nearby electromagnetic field from the subways, no technical malfunctions were observed.

Rec center AED used to save college runner’s life

James Madison University freshman Connor Gwinn collapsed from sudden cardiac arrest while running at the college’s recreation center in March.

A nursing student running behind him, and others at the gym, used CPR and employed a nearby automated external defibrillator (AED) to save his life. Gwinn turned out to have IHSS, a thickening of the heart, and has since received an implantable defibrillator.

Defibrillator makes a life-saving difference in remote mountain community

Police and firefighters in Mt. Crested Butte, Colorado, were called from their homes one morning in February to assist a man suffering chest pain in the parking lot of a local business.

Well-known local radio DJ Craig McManus, 58,  was in cardiac arrest by the time they arrived and receiving CPR from bystanders.

One of the responders attached a Cardiac Science Powerheart G3 Pro AED and obtained EKG data that showed that McManus required a shock. Data from the AED provided information that led responders to administer CPR, and then a second shock. At that point, an ambulance arrived and transported the patient 25 minutes to local hospital with a trauma center; he was subsequently flown to a hospital with a level II trauma center.

Ross Orton, EMS coordinator for Mt. Crested Butte, reports that McManus was discharged from the hospital three days later, and suffered no lasting neurological damage from his brush with death.

“A Cardiac Science AED played an integral role in this call,” Orton wrote. “Thanks for making a truly life-saving product!”

Public access defibrillator programs grow in North Carolina

Moore, Wake, and Pitt counties in North Carolina are leading the way in implementing public access defibrillation (PAD) programs, according to Dr. Robin G. Cummings, the retired cardiac surgeon who chairs HeartSafe Moore County.

Moore County’s PAD program, profiled in this video, partners with Cardiac Science to deploy Powerheart AEDs in the community.

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Donations bring AEDs to communities

New AED at Bellevue High School

1. A Cardiac Science Powerheart G3 automated external defibrillator is now in place at Bellevue (WA) High School’s outdoor sports stadium, where it will be available for all outdoor sporting events.

The AED was purchased and contributed by the Bellevue Girls Lacrosse Club, with assistance from Cardiac Science. 2. The town of Paris, Texas, has also received an automated external defibrillator donated by Cardiac Science.

3. An Indiana man whose life was saved April 4 by a police officer using an automated external defibrillator contributed $500 toward the purchase of a ninth AED for the Porter County Sheriff’s Office. Keith Lakin had been chasing neighborhood kids in all terrain vehicles off his farm property when he collapsed from sudden cardiac arrest. A police officer, already at the scene to deal with the trespassing dispute, dispatched four of the kids to run a quarter mile to the police car to get the AED that was then used to revive Lakin.

4. In Greenville, South Carolina, a man who collapsed last year while working out at the gym and was revived using the gym’s AED is now biking across the state to raise money for AEDs. Ron Vergnolle, 40, will donate funds raised to the local chapter of the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association.

5. In Winchester, Virginia, Cardiac Science has donated a Powerheart G3 AED to the Strasburg baseball field to kick off the Lord Fairfax EMS Council‘s Public Access to Defibrillation (PAD) program. The donation honors high school baseball player Will Orndorff, who survived a sudden cardiac arrest that occurred when he collided with a teammate at practice earlier this season. The team did not have access to an AED; Orndorff was kept alive by a coach who performed CPR while awaiting the arrival of EMS personnel.

Related Products

• Powerheart AED G3 Plus
• Powerheart AED G3 Fully Automatic and Semi-automatic
• Powerheart AED G3 Pro
• Powerheart AED G3 Trainer
• AED Program Management

Last 5 posts

• 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

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