AED (Automated External Defibrillator)
What is sudden cardiac arrest?
Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), one of the leading causes of death in the United States, strikes about 250,000 victims each year, of whom only about five percent survive. Sudden cardiac arrest cases are usually due to abnormal heart rhythms called arrhythmias, the vast majority of which are ventricular fibrillation. Ventricular fibrillation is a condition in which the heart's electrical impulses suddenly become chaotic, causing an abrupt cessation of the heart's pumping action. Victims collapse and quickly lose consciousness, often without warning. Unless a normal heart rhythm is restored, death follows within a matter of minutes.
The cause of sudden cardiac arrest is not well understood. Many victims have no history of heart disease, or if heart disease is present, it has not functionally impaired them. Unlike a heart attack, which is the death of muscle tissue from loss of blood supply, many victims of SCA have no prior symptoms. SCA can strike anyone, at any time, anywhere.
Each year nearly 250,000 Americans succumb to Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) - an average of almost 700 deaths each day. In New York City, due to heavy traffic and delays getting into high-rise buildings, ambulance response rate is over 12 minutes and the survival rate is only 1%--- much lower than the national average of 5%. This statistic should and can be lowered by increased availability of Automated External Defibrillators (AED).
According to a recent study, a heart attack or SCA occurs mostly on Monday followed closely by Friday, the most stressful days of the workweek. SCA can strike anywhere, claiming victims right in the middle of their daily routine, at their desks, behind a store counter, while meeting with associates, or attending to customers. Since we spend most of our waking hours at work or school, it makes good business sense to protect our workplaces and schools against unnecessary death from SCA.
Timing is critical for survival, and only a defibrillator can deliver the electric shock to a heart and restore it to its normal rhythm that is interrupted when SCA strikes. Give your employees, coworkers and customers or students a fighting chance, have a defibrillator on site.
What is the current treatment for sudden cardiac arrest?
A series of four critical steps-called the "chain of survival"-have been identified for the treatment of sudden cardiac arrest:
A break in any of the four links in the chain can compromise the victim's chance for survival; however, early defibrillation is recognized as the most critical step in restoring cardiac rhythm and resuscitating a victim of SCA.
What is defibrillation?
Defibrillation is the treatment of irregular, intermittent or absent heart rhythms by an electrical current to the heart. It is the only definitive treatment for sudden cardiac arrest. Defibrillation administered within four minutes after collapse is most successful; for every minute a victim is unconscious, the likelihood of resuscitation decreases by approximately ten percent.