El Cajon Fire Gives AED’s To The Grossmont Union High School District
May 6, 2007
Filed under Press Releases
Photo: L to R – Cardiac Science Representative Enrique Christoferson, Project Heart Beat Coordinator Maureen O’Connor, El Cajon Fire Battalion Chief Phil Snow, District Nurse Marilyn Snyder, Risk Manager for the School District Todd Torgerson, District Nurses Jackie Doria and Pat Nelson.
The El Cajon Fire Department made a special presentation of 19 AED’s to the Grossmont Union High School district offices at a special meeting held on April 24th. El Cajon Fire Battalion Chief Phil Snow presented the Grossmont District with the 19 AED’s to be placed at area high school campuses. The donation of the AED’s was made possible through a special grant from the Grossmont Healthcare District. In providing the AED’s El Cajon Fire has joined the efforts of Project Heart Beat to save lives through early defibrillation. Their objective is to make Automatic External Defibrillators (AED’s) as accessible as fire extinguishers throughout our community. GHD’s grant also covers training and program management. Chief Snow recognized the critical need and spear-headed the efforts to make this project possible for the East County.
What Is An Automatic External Defibrillator? An Automatic External Defibrillator or AED, is an easy-to-use, automated device, which delivers a life-saving electric shock to the heart to halt rapid and chaotic heart activity, commonly known as Sudden Cardiac Arrest, and restores normal heart rhythm. AED’s are designed to be used by non-medical personnel.
The importance of such a program? The American Heart Association (AHA) estimates Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) occurs approximately 225,000 times per year (including 6,000 children) throughout the United States. It is estimated that a large number of these SCA’s, maybe as many as half, could be prevented in the event early heart defibrillation was available.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest is a abrupt disruption of the heart function causing lack of oxygen to brain and vital organs. Abnormal heart rhythm is the cause of most cardiac arrests. Ventricular fibrillation, a specific type of chaotic heart rhythm, is the most common abnormal rhythm associated with cardiac arrest. The treatment for ventricular fibrillation is defibrillation, shocking the heart into a regular rhythm. Untreated cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation ultimately leads to death. Time is of the essence since brain damage begins at approximately 6 minutes and death occurs at approximately 10 minutes.
If we depend solely on the 9-1-1 system, the patient’s outcome can be poor, because of the physical time it takes to access 9-1-1, receive the dispatch, drive time and patient encounter location. By having AED’s available in close proximity the layperson can attach an AED and the machine can automatically shock the victim and restore normal blood flow. The emergency response to cardiac arrest includes early access to automated external defibrillators (AED), early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and advanced cardiac life support (911).
Photo: Cardiac Science Representative Enrique Christoferson is demonstrating the proper use of the AED to school district’s LVN’s at the same meeting. Cardiac Science provided the AED’s to El Cajon Fire.
To contact El Cajon Battalion Chief Phil Snow for additional information or an interview please cal (619) 843-7033, or (619) 441-1613.
