More defibrillators needed to save lives
The survival rate for individuals who experience sudden cardiac arrest can be improved if defibrillators are more readily available, according to health experts attending a meeting sponsored by the American Heart Association in December 1994. A minute`s delay in returning the heart to its normal pattern of beating decreases the patient`s chance of survival by 10 percent, the experts noted.
Doctors, scientists, and other health professionals at the meeting expressed concern that defibrillators are rarely available when most people experience an attack and that emergency vehicles equipped with defibrillators usually take more than 10 minutes to reach victims in many areas. Attendees called for less expensive models of defibrillators so that more would be available for placement in all police cars, fire and rescue vehicles, and ambulances–and eventually in office buildings, shopping malls, and transportation terminals. Police and fire vehicles often arrive at the scene before ambulances and paramedics, they pointed out. The options, they noted, seem to be to improve emergency response time or place defibrillators in more locations.
Source: “To Save More Lives, Doctors Urge Making Even Cheaper Defibrillators,” Warren E. Leary, The New York Times, Dec. 27, 1994, C3.
