Lifesaver: How an AED program spared a worker's life
When sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) strikes, quick access to CPR and defibrillation are critical for survival. An abnormal heart rhythm that comes on suddenly and without warning often brings on sudden cardiac arrest (unlike a heart attack, which often has prior symptoms). My company, Systemax Manufacturing, located outside Piqua, Ohio (about 25 miles north of Dayton) learned in a dramatic way just how important automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are when one of our employees collapsed in sudden cardiac arrest.
As a former assistant fire chief, CPR instructor and emergency medicine teacher, I knew what to do. I had the employee’s supervisor call 9-1-1 and with the help of my brother-in-law, who also works for the company, got him down on the floor to begin CPR. I sent a colleague for the Medtronic LIFEPAK 500 AED, and he rushed it to the man’s side, where I had already cleared his airway and begun CPR. It took about one minute from the time the employee was on the ground to the time I could provide defibrillation. Initially, the AED’s audio prompt said “no shock advised.†I continued performing CPR because he was not breathing and had no pulse.