Automated External Defibrillators (AED)
Electrical defibrillation provides the single most important therapy for the treatment of cardiac arrest.
Automated External Defibrillators (AED) are very useful because they are simple to use, and they can be operated by anyone.
The chance of resuscitation decreases by 10 percent for every minute that the ventricular fibrillation is allowed to happen without any treatment.
Why Defibrillators
Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, claiming 250,000 to 450,000 lives each year, over 2,000 of them are unsuspecting and many times athletic children. SCA can strike without warning to anyone at any time. The annual incidence of sudden cardiac arrest is higher than the annual incidence of car accidents, breast cancer, prostate cancer and house fires combined. It's also the number one killer of women!
Sadly on average, only 7% of sudden cardiac arrest victims in the United States survive. Recently however, some areas are reporting survival rates of 50% have been achieved. Those successes can be found in systems dedicated to making a difference. They focus on public CPR courses and the availability of Automated External Defibrillators (AED), making them readily available to deliver defibrillation within 5 minutes of someone suffering a cardiac arrest.
Few medical interventions are as inexpensive to implement and successful at saving lives as early defibrillation. The use of AED's is so safe, some cities have made it a requirement that all school aged kids from 6th grade on, be taught CPR and AED use. AED's are bullet proof and cannot be made to shock anyone who does not need to be shocked.
