7 reasons to buy an AED

Seven Reasons to invest in your people, your customers and yourself!

Buy an AED!

Sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in Australia, causing around 35,000 deaths each year. Around half those who experience cardiac arrest have no prior warning that there is anything wrong with their heart. Of those cases that occur outside hospital, almost 90 per cent are fatal.

It is not just older people who suffer cardiac arrest. In the United States about 7,000 to 16,000 children die from sudden cardiac arrest each year, often from undiagnosed heart defects. For adults, 10,000 sudden cardiac arrests occur in the  workplace every year, with 13% of all workplace fatalities resulting from sudden cardiac arrest.

 In Australia each week, 5 people under 35 suffer sudden cardiac arrest.

Here at International Paramedic College, we want to see an Australia where, if a friend or workmate has a cardiac arrest, you’ll be able to find an AED within minutes because for every minute defibrillation is delayed there is a 10% reduction in survival.

A recent article in the Australian Financial review asked the question “When so few medical conditions are completely unexplained, we retain a special horror for these stories of teenagers who go to sleep and never wake up, or of promising athletes who die mid-race. They raise the disturbing, unanswered question: why do the young and healthy sometimes drop dead?”

Just like first aid kits, smoke detectors and other safety measures, AED’s can save lives and we need them in the workplace close to where people are.

Emily Counter was working out at a fitness center in Noosa when she had a seizure and went into cardiac arrest in October 2018

Watch the CCTV footage here

Paramedics are fast, but not that fast.

Australian Ambulance response times can vary widely. It is the nature of this big brown land. Average ambulance response times are published annually and you can see in the graph below that waiting for paramedics to deliver the first shock as your strategy in time-critical sudden cardiac arrest, may not be the best strategy. Many years ago, Bob Wright, the father of modern paramedics in Australia worked on the philosophy that if you were going to die between the event and the hospital then we better train paramedics to treat you. AED’s were developed to help the general public save lives before an Ambulance arrives by being easy to use in an emergency. Waiting for paramedics to arrive will reduce your chance of survival.

Are there any legal implications if you have an AED in the workplace?

Many people are concerned by the possible legal ramifications of having an AED in the workplace. Common worries include questions like “if we use an AED on someone and that person doesn’t survive, are we liable”, “is an AED in the workplace only provided for staff or should it be available to customers” and so on.

Whilst it would be prudent practice to seek out your own legal advice, some great reading on this topic is available from the blog “Australian Emergency Law” by Michael Eburn PhD and Barrister. Included herein are links to particularly relevant articles such as:  “Legal issues when installing a defibrillator“, “Liability for installing, or not, an AED in a retirement community” and “Choosing not to install an AED for spurious reasons“.

Here are a couple of quotes from the articles mentioned above:

An AED in the workplace is there for you, your staff and customers

What is customer service? I hear business talk about customer focus and exceeding customer expectations. Having an AED when a customer needs one might just be better than a 5 star google or facebook review of your business or the feedback if you couldn’t help. 

SCA can occur in any circumstance; work, rest or play. There are many contributing factors to SCA like diet, weight, exercise or lack of exercise, stress, genetic factors, though it is important to note that many SCA occur in young and otherwise healthy Australians.

Global studies over the past 20 years have provided similar outcomes. These studies have repeatedly demonstrated the link between AEDs and surviving a SCA. In addition, these studies have demonstrated that higher survival outcomes are achieved when the first shock is delivered within 3 minutes.

Compared to the rest of the world we are not as good at delivering the first shock in SCA.

Time = Survival

Workplace CPR training or Community CPR education programs are great, but they are not enough.

Effective CPR where you press hard enough and fast enough on the chest may keep patients “salvageable” and by that I mean it circulates blood to the brain which is important, however, only an electric shock from an AED can restore a normal heart rhythm when a person experiences an abnormal heart rhythm such as ventricular fibrillation — the  leading cause of sudden cardiac arrest. An AED delivers the required shock if it registers that a shock is needed by the patient. That’s why they call them “smart defibs”

AEDs are Easy to Use – You Cannot Accidentally Shock Someone

AEDs will calmly talk you through everything you need to do. So even if you haven’t been trained you can follow the voice instructions. They will automatically analyze the person’s heart rhythm and advise whether a shock is needed.  You cannot accidentally shock someone because the AED only will charge to shock when it detects two life threatening rhythms – ventricular fibrillation and an unstable ventricular tachycardia.  If someone just passes out and still has heartbeat, it will not charge to shock.  In  fact, studies show that sixth grade children can correctly use an AED in as little as 90 seconds.

There is a cost to doing nothing – Dealing with the “what if’s” after traumatic events can be devastating.

 As a paramedic I speak from experience. The “what if’s” ripple effect after tragedy and simply devastating.

 The current model Code of Practice for First Aid in the Workplace only mandates first aid kits and trained first aiders. So, while an AED is not mandated, it could be used on you, your customers or your colleagues at work. It’s not always what we have to do, but what we should do.

You don’t only need to do something when you have too.

We need to do something when it is just the right thing to do.

OUR RECOMMENDED AED HAS

• Faster to shock and the only AED with CPR insight technology that allows chest compressions during ECG rhythm analysis which means more effective CPR
• CPR coaching and metronome to set an effective CPR pace during an arrest
• Adult and child modes at the press of a button with no need to change between or buy separate adult and child pads
• IP rating of 55 for tough conditions
• Available in semi or fully automatic modes
• 8 year warranty
• 4 year pad and battery life (change pads and battery cost around $400)
• Cheapest cost of ownership over the life of the AED
• Soft shell carry case
• Clear voice technology – easy to hear and understand instructions
• Weight of only 2kg for easy of transporting                                                                    
• Part of our pay it forward program where we donate an AED to the survivors choice of place

  Fully Automatic model = no button to push to deliver shock. Semi-Automatic model = push button to deliver a shock. We recommend the fully automatic model for use as a public access defibrillator