Congress Pushes for AED's in Schools

By Robert Davis, USA TODAY

A grass-roots push to put defibrillators into every school — to revive children who suffer cardiac arrest as well as their teachers, custodians and visiting family members — may get a jolt from Congress.

Nobody knows today how many people collapse inside schools or at school sporting events from cardiac arrest, but cities and states have begun counting the numbers of lives saved by defibrillators in schools. The devices are required in federal buildings and airliners. An automated external defibrillator (AED) is a computerized device that talks users, including children, through lifesaving steps to zap a dying heart back to a normal beat during a cardiac arrest.

In Ohio, 13 lives have been saved with school defibrillators since 2005. In New York, 38 lives have been saved since 2002.

FIGHTING FOR DEFIBRILLATORS: Grassroots group targets halls of Congress

Schools are a logical place to put defibrillators, doctors say, because on any given day as much as 20% of a community's population passes through its schools.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Congress | Ohio | Josh Miller | Emergency Medical Services | John Acompora

Though many of the people saved by the defibrillators have been adults, the preventable deaths of children have fueled the grass-roots efforts. That includes 15-year-old Josh Miller of Barberton, Ohio, who died during a high school football game on Oct. 27, 2000.

His death is part of what is driving the effort in Congress to pass a bill that would provide federal matching money to help put the $1,000 devices in every school. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Betty Sutton, D-Ohio, calls for 3-to-1 federal matching funds to pay for defibrillators in schools.

"It's a great idea," says Peter Moyer, Boston's medical director for the Emergency Medical Services. "It will save lives, it's good for student self-esteem and introduces students to health careers."

Boston — which has one of the best track records of saving victims of cardiac arrest — has had automated external defibrillators in all of its public high schools and some of its elementary schools. Medics teach CPR and defibrillator use at the high schools. Similar efforts are underway in Nashville, where the fire department has trained health teachers to become CPR and AED instructors. The goal is to certify every ninth- and 10th-grader in CPR and AED use. So far, 70 of 132 schools have the devices.

Across Tennessee, there have been 22 cardiac arrests at schools over the past five years, says Mark Meredith, medical director for Nashville's Public Access Defibrillation program. An AED was used to revive six of those people at the school.

Getting a shock from a defibrillator within just a few minutes of cardiac arrest is key to saving these people. The odds of survival decrease 10% for every minute that a victim goes without such a shock, meaning that waiting for the typical EMS response to a 911 call is most often fatal.

"We've got the best paramedics in the world," says Terry Gordon, an Akron cardiologist who pushed for every school in Ohio to have a defibrillator in the wake of Miller's death. "But they may be on another call or stuck in traffic, and they just can't get there fast enough."

AED and RITE used on Unconscious man on Airplane

Here is another Automated Electronic Defibrillator success story. This one involves 3 NYC firefighters on-board with their new invention the "Rapid Intervention Tactical Evacuation" known as "RITE", which they would be demonstrating to a manufacturer a short while later.

Here is part of the article:

Bravest, sure, but maybe the Smartest, too

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Sunday, October 21st 2007
Michael Daly

The invention is designed to be compact, but it would not fit in an overhead compartment, and a flight attendant stashed it in a closet in first class.

The three inventors were flying coach, and they settled into a row of seats toward the back as Delta Flight 17 to Atlanta prepared to depart from Kennedy Airport on Monday morning.

The plane was just beginning to roll away from the gate when a young man jumped up two rows in front of the inventors. He began to tug at an older man who had slumped over in the seat next to him.

"Papa! Papa!" the young man called out.

The fear in his face was unmistakable as he continued trying to rouse the older man.

"Sit down!" a flight attendant ordered.

"Papa! Papa!" the young man continued.

The inventors leapt up and rushed over. The older man appeared to be unconscious, and the inventors raised his limp arm over his head and let go. A conscious person will instinctively move his falling hand so as not to strike himself.

The man's hand struck his face, confirming this was more serious than a little drowsiness. The inventors learned anew the difficulty of moving a full-grown unconscious person in a tight space as they shifted the man to the bulkhead area. They announced themselves to the startled passengers and crew.

"We're New York City firemen! Get out of the way!"

Firefighter Tommy Fee put his fingertips against the man's carotid artery. He felt no pulse and did chest compressions as retired Lt. Frank Haskell called for the defibrillator aboard all flights. Planes also carry an oxygen tank, and retired Lt. Mike Harty got that going.

A flight attendant brought the defibrillator. The firefighters tore open the man's shirt and applied the two pads. A mechanical voice crackled from the device.

"Analyzing patient.... Prepare to shock. ... Step away. ... Shock."

Fee hit the red button marked Shock. The resulting jolt of electricity made the man's body jump.

"Analyzing patient."

The firefighters saw a bounding line on the defibrillator's small monitor screen.

"Back to life," Fee later said.

To learn more about the RITE success story and how the patient is doing, click on the word.

Defibrillator Credited in Saving Rochester, MN Man's Life

Reliving Death
Jenna Gordon
KTTC TV

ROCHESTER, MN -- Considered dead, a Rochester man makes a miraculous recovery thanks to two off-duty police officers and a heart shocking machine. Now a year and a half later, NewsCenters Jenna Gordon takes us to Saint Marys where the survivor listens to his life changing day.

In May of 2006, Al Fritsche's life changed forever. He had just run 20 miles in Soldiers Field Park preparing for an upcoming marathon and was on his way home.

"Walking along here and kept getting dizzier and dizzier, and so I went to lean on the fence and the last thing I remember is looking out in the golf course," says Fritsche.

Off duty officers Gretchen and John O'Neill drove by the park and thought something just wasn't quite right. It could be said it was fate that the two off duty officers saw Al through all these trees and shrubs to where he laid standing getting dizzy and eventually falling down.

"For her to notice this runner looked like he was in trouble rather than just resting. I owe my life to her and John," say Fritsche.

Al had gone into Sudden Cardiac Arrest.

The two officers called for help and started CPR. And only minutes later another officer came with a defibrillator, which ended up saving his life.

"What a pleasure to see you right here today."

Defibrillators record sound and for the first time in a year and a half Al is listening to his fateful day.

"Heart rhythm. Come on Al, Come on Al."

"He was dead."

"It's a, makes me realize how lucky I am. All these people helping," says Fritsche.

"In at least 64 percent of people the hearts fibrillate at least one time and that's what happened in Al's case, So that required a 2nd shock," says Dr. White.

Dr. White says Al's case was a best case scenario. "His arrest was witnesses, he was attended to properly a defibrillator in a police car was made available and he was shocked properly and he regained pulses," says Dr. White.

"I was in a different place. Very calm, peaceful and quiet. I never felt anything like it before in my life. It was wonderful," says Fritsche.

Al woke up the next morning feeling great, like his heart never gave out. He says he wouldn't change the experience no matter how life threatening.

"I'm really glad it happened to be frank about it. It confirms a feeling I had that death is not to be feared," says Fritsche.

And listening to this life changing event, Al says he's got a life changing look on life.

Dr. White began a program where defibrillators are in most emergency response vehicles, and he says in Rochester they've saved 101 lives since the program started in 1990.