Defibrillators save lives, so make use of them
We applaud you for your story on sudden cardiac arrest [“In the critical minutes, saving a life meant CPR”, October 24-31]. SCA kills 2,000 people every year in B.C. Knowledge of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and access to automatic external defibrillators will greatly reduce this needless loss of human life.
Your article makes the case for having all B.C. residents trained in CPR, starting in high school. However, we strongly believe that automatic external defibrillators should be readily available in public places, workplaces, and homes. For as you note, it is the defibrillator that restarts the heart, not CPR. Without defibrillation, the SCA patient has no chance of surviving.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada recognizes this and has committed to put automatic external defibrillators into public places like hockey rinks, recreational centres,
et cetera. To date, 119 of these defibrillators have been placed into community facilities in B.C. and an additional 240 are planned for 2014. As a proud partner supporting the B.C. public-access defibrillation program, we are ecstatic to see these life-saving units in B.C. communities.
The Government of Canada has also announced its support of a $10-million, four-year initiative to place automatic external defibrillators in arenas across the country.
> Vern Biccum / president, Iridia Medical
Comments
1 Comments
Blake Hurst
Nov 7, 2013 at 8:28am
The First and Great Commandment of Resuscitation - Thou shalt not have a favourite link in the "Chain of Survival"
It is called a chain because every link is critical. No one who understands how resuscitation works should be lobbying politicians for funding or policies to strengthen just one link in the chain. We need to build comprehensive community cardiac response programs that address and strengthen every link.
In Ontario we have a physician group lobbying for mandatory CPR and I marvel at their stupidity, 7 years of medical school wasted. In Manitoba they are hanging AED's all over the province with no mandatory training requirement, setting up a future filled with lost opportunities to save a life.
The evidence is clear and unequivocal every link in the chain makes a significant contribution to improving survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. For example, if ER's aren't cooling post arrest patients half of our efforts (and funding) in the community are wasted.
We live in an evidence based world. Respect the evidence.