SUDDEN cardiac arrest takes more than 460,000 lives in the United States each year. Despite prompt recognition of the event and immediate CPR, survival rates of less than 5 percent are still commonplace.
ACCORDING to the American Heart Association, sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, striking more than 340,000 people each year, or 930 people each day.
A co-worker in his early fifties collapses from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) after taking a walk during his break. He's unresponsive, turning blue, and lying motionless on the floor just inside the main entrance. You activate your emergency response plan, call 911, and wait. Within three minutes, CPR is started by trained co-workers. Six minutes later, EMS arrives and begins advanced care.
AT one time or another, most of us have secretly harbored the thought--or even boldly uttered the words--"If I were in charge around here, I'd _____ _____ ____ ____." (You can fill in the blanks yourself.) As for me, having been the only male in my class in nursing school, having fathered two (now grown) daughters, and having been married for more than 30 years, I long ago gave up any desire or hope of ever occupying a position of control or authority over anything or anyone.
AS Diebold, Inc.'s corporate office completes the successful rollout of its comprehensive workplace safety program, its manager of corporate safety sets his sights on company-wide implementation--and "won't rest" until Diebold's commitment to employee safety is fulfilled.
WHEN a man playing tennis at a ClubCorp Inc. resort in Austin, Texas, appeared to be suffering chest pains, ClubCorp employees responded quickly. Within 30 seconds, the company's specially trained team brought an automated external defibrillator (AED) to the man's side.
LOSING a valuable employee heavily impacts the organization on many levels: the loss of productivity, the impact to company morale, the employee safety and security issues, and risk and liability issues.
"WHAT is a smoke detector?" Such a question would draw raised eyebrows and possibly snickers in an average gathering of office employees. "What is an AED?" Unless you're in the business, a techie, a safety director, an EMS responder, or a medical professional, you may have no idea the initials AED stand for automated external defibrillator.
PROSPECTS couldn't be brighter for the automated external defibrillator market than they are right now. Liability concerns have receded thanks to "Good Samaritan" laws; new AEDs are lighter, smarter, more capable, and as much as 25 percent cheaper than older models; a battery of important authorities, from OSHA to the General Services Administration, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and the Building Owners and Managers Association International, are urging widespread deployment.
Popular perception: Buy an AED, and your company is ready to save lives.
Harsh reality: Recently, a father of three died from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) while visiting a Tennessee county courthouse. Six months later, hoping to prevent similar, unnecessary deaths, the man's widow offered to donate an automated external defibrillator (AED) to the public building. She was informed by embarrassed public officials that they already had one--that the life-saving device had, in fact, been in the building at the time of her husband's death. Unfortunately, no one had been trained to use it.
Editor's note: ZOLL Medical Corp., a producer of defibrillators and pacing devices for hospital physicians, nurses, and emergency medical technicians, introduced its first automated external defibrillator (AED) for public safety professionals and lay responders last year.