According to statistics, there are as many as 10,000 heart attacks in the United States each year. Studies also show that many of these can be prevented, but there are very few plans in action to prevent death by heart attack as we see for disaster preparedness or active shooters.
The American Heart Association says that any effective emergency plan for a heart attack should include an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). Find out who invented the defibrillator here.
Below are nine reasons why:
There Are precious few minutes in which a heart can be stimulated once it has ceased to beat. An AED on hand will save time and lives when EMS is still far away.
The heart rhythm in ventricular fibrillation may only be stimulated after it has stopped with an electric shock.
An AED is a compact, lightweight, battery-operated, safe, and easy-to-use item for saving lives.
The modern AED is perfectly safe as it will not allow a shock to be released on a person with a heartbeat, this reduces the risk of doing more harm than good when attempting to save a life.
These devices have already been used extensively in the workplace and have been found effective in saving lives.
In addition to placing AEDs at strategic locations in the workplace, proper management and training should be provided as well to increase the effectiveness of these items in regular use.
In an emergency, the AED can mean the difference between life and death.
More than 95% of all deaths by heart attacks occur before the victim has reached the hospital. When heart stimulation is applied within 5 to 7 minutes of the heart attack, the survival rate improves considerably.
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