Heart Safe news: Our weekly update on what’s happening in the world of heart safety and noninvasive cardiology
School AEDs: Lucia Mar district installs heart defibrillators system wide
The Lucia Mar Unified School District in California has equipped all 24 of its facilities with Powerheart G3 automated external defibrillators (AEDs). SanLuisObispo.com and SantaMariaTimes.com reported that parents and community members, concerned about sudden cardiac arrest incidents in community, had urged the district to buy the life-saving devices.
Cardiac Science and Safety First install AEDs at Lucia Mar schools
Three years ago, a parent in the Lucia Mar district, Richard Beedle died from sudden cardiac arrest while playing basketball at one of the schools. School district trustee Colleen Martin, a friend of Beedle’s family, said that his death made her realize the need for on-site AEDs. An ambulance equipped with an AED did not arrive until 12 minutes after Beedle collapsed, well past the three or four minutes recommended for effective AED deployment.
Martin led the move to make the heart defibrillator available at school facilities.
Accord to press reports, Lucia Mar is the first school district on California’s Central Coast to equip all of its facilities with AEDs, including schools, maintenance and transportation facilities, and the district’s main office).
Brandon Kahan of Cardiac Science and Christine van Solinge of Safety First Seminars worked with the school district on installation of the devices and training for 175 employees. The Schools Insurance Program for Employees (SIPE) provided a grant for the training. According to school spokesperson, each school now has from four to seven staff trained to use AEDs.
How did the Lucia Mar school district organize their system-wide AED program, from planning, to purchase, to installation and training? Find out by contacting California school AED expert Brandon Kahan.
Government to recognize leaders in health information technology and electronic medical records
Last week the Department of Health & Human Services announced a grant program for “beacon communities” that lead the way in developing electronic medical records (EMR).
According to official announcement from HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Dr. David Blumenthal, HHS’ National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, the government will make available $235 million to “accelerate and demonstrate the ability of health information technology to transform local health care systems, and improve the lives of Americans and the performance of the health care providers who serve them.”
The Beacon Community Program will include $220 million in grants to build and strengthen health IT infrastructure and health information exchange capabilities, including strong privacy and security measures for data exchange, within 15 communities. An additional $15 million will be provided for technical assistance to the communities and to evaluate the success of the program.
Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Beacon Community Program will take communities at the cutting edge of electronic health record (EHR) adoption and health information exchange and push them to a new level of health care quality and efficiency.
Canadian AEDs: Police officer rescued by sports arena defibrillator he helped install
Sgt. Perry Batchelor’s efforts to get heart defibrillators installed in his community had an unexpected return. The Altona, Canada, police officer’s life was saved by people using an automated external defibrillator (AED) after he collapsed while serving as referee for a local youth hockey game Nov. 29. According to the report from the Altona Record, several people in the crowd at the game, including nurses at another police officer, called 911 and then came to Batchelor’s aid.
They administered CPR and used the AED from the nearby lobby of the sports arena to revive Batchelor. The local media reported that emergency medical services did not arrive until about 15 minutes after Batchelor’s collapse.
The defibrillator used to save Perry Batchelor’s life was acquired by the Millennium Exhibition Centre, thanks to the hard work of Batchelor himself. He secured the funding for the $2,500 AED (automatic external defibrillator) only 14 months previous while playing for the Altona Maroons Oldtimers.
Recreation services manager Ron Epp said the reason that device was there, was Perry Batchelor.
“He was the driving force behind getting it in,” Epp said.
Batchelor underwent heart surgery and is now recovering.
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 by Joe Hage
- Will the FDA be a new player in health IT? - March 10th, 2010
- Oregon AED school legislation passes! - March 9th, 2010
- Remembering Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association co-founder Jack Grogan: Cardiac Science for the week of March 8 - March 8th, 2010
- Congress votes to delay Medicare reimbursement cuts - March 3rd, 2010
- California defibrillator bill protects rescuers from liability - February 25th, 2010
Mon, Dec 7, 2009 |
AEDs, Cardiology