AED Article Wins Grand Neal Award
A March 2012 article published by IEEE Spectrum won one of the highest awards given for excellence in business-to-business media on March 12.
"A Shocking Truth," an article about automated external defibrillators by Mark Harris in the March 2012 issue of IEEE Spectrum, won the Grand Neal Award on March 12 in American Business Media’s awards ceremony held in New York City. The award is one of the highest given for excellence in business-to-business media.
Harris' article also won an award in the contest for best single article. It points out the challenges facing manufacturers of AEDs, whose products are expected to work flawlessly even if they have been hanging on the wall of an airport or a gym for years without being used. Their penetration into public spaces and workplaces has been limited, which fuels disappointment when bystanders are willing to intervene to help someone suffering sudden cardiac arrest but then cannot locate an AED nearby, he reports.
Harris' article is even-handed. It mentions numerous AED recalls but also cites King County, Wash.'s outstanding results from its citizen defibrillation program and the bystander CPR app created by the San Ramon Valley Fire Department in California to help members of the public give CPR correctly and locate the nearest available AED.