By Debra Dibartolo Jul 8th 2010 2:30PM
Three summers ago, I got a phone call from my mother one Wednesday evening, telling me to come straight to the hospital emergency department because, “Your brother’s heart stopped working.” My mother is usually not very excitable, so I was concerned but skeptical. My brother was an extremely healthy, 37-year-old father of two teenage boys. I knew my mother had to be making a mistake, because Brian was coaching football at the school that afternoon and therefore could not be in the hospital. I yelled upstairs to my husband to come with me to the emergency department; that my mother just called and is clearly very confused about something. “She thinks that Brian’s heart stopped,” I told him.

I understand that denial is very powerful. It’s a very strong psychologically-protective coping skill, but I truly was not in denial at that point. I really just thought my mother was confused.

Well, I was wrong. My 37-year-old brother — never sick a day in his life — suffered a sudden cardiac arrest on the high school football field while jogging with the members of his team.

Brian was one of the 600 people who die each day from sudden cardiac arrest. My family’s story is not a story of grief and loss, however. Our school has an automated external defibrillator, and all of the coaches and assistant coaches are educated on how to use it. Some of the teenage boys that he was jogging with ran to the school to get the AED, while another one of the coaches started cardiopulmonary resuscitation and called 911. Prior to the ambulance arriving, they “shocked” him twice and returned his heart to normal functioning.

Brian was hospitalized for five days while the nurses, doctors and technicians tried to figure out what happened and provide him with treatment, so it would not happen again. He was discharged and sent home with no injury to his heart, and a permanently implanted defibrillator in his chest for protection, should this ever happen again.

My brother’s story is not just an occurrence of “good luck.” It is a testament to organizations like the American Heart Association and their Public Access Defibrillation Program. As well as the skill, sound minds and quick responses of the young men on his football team, the other coaches, the volunteer emergency ambulance service in our community and the skill and training of the doctors, nurses and technicians who provided Brian’s care and treatment in the hospital.

Defibrillation is the only treatment for ventricular fibrillation, the condition that Brian suffered from that day. His heart, for reasons we still don’t know, began to beat chaotically and ceased pumping blood, which led to him collapsing and having no signs of life. Per the AHA, for every minute that passes, the chances that someone will survive ventricular fibrillation decreases 7 to 10 percent. So after as little as ten minutes, the chances of survival are very, very slim.

It was not a highly-trained emergency medicine doctor, cardiac nurse or paramedic with years of education and experience that saved Brian’s life that afternoon. The real hero of this story was a coach — one of his friends — who attended a one-day class given by the American Red Cross on how to administer CPR and use an AED.

Attending an AHA class is fun! Attending a class with your friends or family is even more fun. The instructors are not intimidating and they have programs that can be tailored to your specific needs and comfort level. Most of the classes don’t even have a test! What they do have is caring community members teaching other caring community members the skills they need to save a life.

SOURCE: AOL Health

CPR & Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA)
Fact Sheet As of April 26, 2010

Sudden Cardiac Arrest
• EMS treats nearly 300,000 victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year in the U.S.
• Less than eight percent of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside the hospital survive.
• Sudden cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at any time. Many victims appear healthy with no known heart disease or other risk factors.
• Sudden cardiac arrest is not the same as a heart attack. Sudden cardiac arrest occurs when electrical impulses in the heart become rapid or chaotic, which causes the heart to suddenly stop beating. A heart attack occurs when the blood supply to part of the heart muscle is blocked. A heart attack may cause cardiac arrest.

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)
• Less than one-third of out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest victims receive bystander CPR.
• Effective bystander CPR, provided immediately after sudden cardiac arrest, can double or triple a victim’s chance of survival.
• The American Heart Association trains more than 12 million people in CPR annually, including healthcare professionals and the general public.
• The most effective rate for chest compressions is 100 compressions per minute – the same rhythm as the beat of the BeeGee’s song, “Stayin’ Alive.”
Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs)
• Unless CPR and defibrillation are provided within minutes of collapse, few attempts at resuscitation are successful.
• Even if CPR is performed, defibrillation with an AED is required to stop the abnormal rhythm and restore a normal heart rhythm.
• New technology has made AEDs simple and user-friendly. Clear audio and visual cues tell users what to do when using an AED and coach people through CPR. A shock is delivered only if the victim needs it.
• AEDs are now widely available in public places such as schools, airports and workplaces.
Teens/Youth
• About 5,800 children 18 years old and under suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year from all causes – including trauma, cardiovascular causes and sudden infant death syndrome.
• The incidence of out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest in high school athletes ranges from .28 to 1 death per 100,000 high school athletes annually in the U.S.
• The American Heart Association does not have a minimum age requirement for people to learn CPR. The ability to perform CPR is based more on body strength rather than age.
• Studies have shown that children as young as 9 years old can learn and retain CPR skills.

SOURCE:  American Heart Association

ST. CHARLES COUNTY – A seventh-grader at Francis Howell Middle School was revived after his heart stopped in gym class this afternoon, officials said.

Boy saved with CPR

Austin Redd, 13, collapsed to the floor and went into cardiac arrest after running a couple laps about 12:45 p.m., officials said.

St. Charles County Deputy Ron Neupert, 50, raced to the gym and found Austin unconscious, not breathing, without a pulse and beginning to turn blue. Neupert started CPR and radioed for an ambulance.

The school nurse, Lynne Finnerty, shocked Austin once with the school’s automatic external defibrillator (AED). Shortly after, Austin awoke.

“It seemed like forever, but within a few seconds, he began to breathe on his own and you could see he was coming around,’ Neupert said.

Paramedics loaded Austin into an ambulance and rushed him off to Progress West HealthCare Center in O’Fallon, Mo.

Marty Limpert, a spokesman for the St. Charles County Ambulance District, said the incident illustrates the need for AEDs in school and well-trained staff.

“There’s no doubt that they saved his life,” Limpert said.

It’s not yet clear what caused Austin to collapse. Officials were not aware of any prior medical conditions. Austin’s parents were with him this afternoon as he rested at the hospital. He was transferred by helicopter to St. Louis Children’s Hospital in St. Louis for examination. He is expected to be OK.

“It’s awesome,” Neupert said of Austin’s recovery. “These kids are my kids and I care about every single one of them.”

In recent years, AEDs have become increasingly common in public places such as schools, athletic centers, churches, sports arenas and casinos.

The devices, which prompt rescuers with voice commands and pictures, deliver electric shocks designed to restore a person’s heart back into its regular rhythm.

In 2004, the Illinois passed a law requiring schools to have defibrillators for athletic events. Missouri has no such law.

A district spokeswoman said all Francis Howell schools and district offices have had AEDs for several years.

Francis Howell Middle School Principal Amy Johnston said Thursday’s incident the first time the school has used its AED since it was installed about eight years ago.

And “hopefully the last,” she said.

SOURCE: /interact.stltoday.com

Click here to read the article

Sudden Cardiac Arrest Survival Rates Surge When AEDs Are Used Before EMS Arrival

Pittsburgh, Penn. – April 15, 2010 – Victims of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) who are treated with automated external defibrillators (AEDs) by bystanders have a much greater chance of survival than their counterparts, according to landmark research by the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium, just published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Researchers reviewed 13,769 cases of SCA occurring outside hospitals in multiple sites in the U.S. and Canada. Using multivariate analysis, researchers looked at potential confounding factors such as bystander CPR and time to EMS arrival. An AED was used before arrival of emergency medical services (EMS) personnel in 2.1 percent of cases. Survival in the overall group was 7 percent, compared to 24 percent when an AED was applied before EMS arrival, and 38 percent when an AED shock was delivered before EMS arrival. Use of an AED before EMS arrival increased the odds of survival by 80 percent.

“This is the first time a broad population was studied in this country,” said principal investigator, Dr. Myron Weisfeldt, Director, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. “This study shows in a dramatic way that the use of AEDs by bystanders is a very potent indicator of survival.”

When study results were extrapolated to the entire population of the U.S. and Canada, researchers found that 470 people are saved each year due to bystander use of AEDs. “We are talking about nearly 500 people with families, said Weisfeldt. “I think the impact is significant.”

“This study is the landmark research we have been waiting for. It confirms the need for widespread deployment of AEDs, and the need for the public to become familiar with their use,” said Mary Newman, President of the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation.

“This data also supports the efforts of organizations making efforts to advance public education,” said Weisfeldt. “We need to get the message out that, ‘You can do this. Sixth graders can do this. With AEDs, you have a real chance to save a life.’”

In addition, the ROC study analyzed the type of bystander using the AED. The best results occurred when AEDs were used by lay people, Weisfeldt said. The second-best results occurred when AEDs were used by healthcare personnel, and the worst results occurred when AEDs were used by police. The differences are likely related to the location of arrest. People who are out in public places generally are healthier than those in hospitals and nursing homes, where healthcare personnel were generally responding. And police were generally responding to victims at home, where victims are more likely to have had unwitnessed SCA, longer time to treatment and, therefore, lower chance of survival.

About Sudden Cardiac Arrest
Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is the sudden, unexpected loss of heart function, breathing and consciousness. It kills approximately 250,000 people each year in the U.S. alone, more than from colorectal cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, auto accidents, AIDS, firearms, and house fires combined.

SOURCE: sca-aware.org

Click here to read the article

AED saves student’s life
Quick thinking and an external defibrillator helped save the life of a Gates-Chili student. A softball coach and an athletic trainer are recognized after they went into action to save the life of an eighth grader who collapsed at track practice.

People often talk about the quality of life – in this instance, quality of life is measured by something called an AED and people who knew how to use it.

Years of training paid off for Gates-Chili coach Michael Candileri and athletic trainer Julie Savage. The defibrillator couldn’t have been in a better location, just steps from where the stricken girl fell.

Candileri said, “You know, you’re just calming yourself and keeping yourself under control, making sure you’re doing everything correctly. The only thought in your mind is to save this girl.”

Savage used the defibrillator to give eighth grader Olivia Fish the initial shock. “The AED analyzed her again and said continue CPR — all good signs that she didn’t need to be shocked again.”

“You know, for a split second, you thought about what you were doing and then I stopped thinking and I said I just have to do and I can’t think,” Candileri said.

Paramedics took over when they arrived but the coach said, that’s when he thought about what ultimately could have happened because when the outcome was still uncertain when the girl was taken to the hospital.

But everything went right that day. Both were recognized at the school by the Red Cross. The shock Savage delivered and the CPR saved the girl’s life.

Both the coach and the athletic trainer have had a chance to see the girl and they said just seeing and talking with her — that’s been the most gratifying thing.

She is still in the hospital but is expected to go home soon. The school district said her family has expressed its gratitude for all that’s been done.

SOURCE: whec.com.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE