Many people are now realizing how important it is to have a heart-healthy policy. This does not mean that rules about eating heart healthy diets are becoming complacent in various places. What it means is that people are realizing the need to be geared up for an incident that is called sudden cardiac arrest. Due to the fact that anyone, regardless of age, can potentially suffer a sudden cardiac arrest, hospitals, companies and even schools are now with their Automated External Defibrillators. This makes for a healthier and safer environment as well as limits the liability of the establishment.
The number of people in the United States that have suffered sudden cardiac arrest is estimated at about 350,000 for each year. This happens to a person when their heart starts beating at an erratic rate, making it tremble, compress and ultimately cease from beating. Ventricular fibrillation is the most common form of cardiac arrest, which involves having the heart quiver in the victim’s chest. What is alarming is that most cardiac arrest incidents happen outside and even far from hospitals. This makes it all the more important for certain areas to have an AED program. For every minute that passes without the rescue being administered, the survival rate declines for about 10%. With an AED program readily in place, one can give the necessary rescue operation at once while awaiting professional medical assistance.
Through an AED program, someone who is trained to reset the victim’s heart to normal will use the AED device, preferably. The ideal time for the rescue is three minutes or less after the victim has collapsed. Waiting any further will be gambling the victim’s life. One study specifically notes that the administration of an AED rescue gives the victim a survival rate of up to 75%. If an AED program is nowhere within the vicinity of the incident, the survival rate of the victims falls by up to 8%. More often than not, not even CPR will be enough. The advanced device AED therefore, proves to be the best implement, given its overall function. It analyzes the victim’s heart rhythm and tells the rescuer if a shock is necessary, which will then be delivered by the device itself as well. Though it is small in size, it gives big benefits that include saving a person’s life.
Though an AED program has a need for proper training, it does not mean that a medical personnel is the only one who can use it for an emergency situation. Even non-medical individuals, as long as they are aware of how to use the device, they are greatly encouraged to use it when the situation calls for it. There is no room for hesitation when an emergency surfaces. Much to the benefit of anyone who will have to use the AEDs, it gives a guide for the operator so that they will know exactly how to handle the situation. It has audio and visual prompts that will make even decision-making easy for the rescuer.
