Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: AED

[Eris Weaver (eris]

Ann wrote:
> 
> We considered purchasing an AED.  A team looked at all the costs/benefits, 
> etc.  In the end, the issue was:  where would the AED live?  If in the CH, 
> and the heart attack occurred at the edge of the community would we be able 
> to use the device w/in the first 5 mins?  Would everyone in the community be 
> ?certified? or ?approved? to use the device?  How would we get everyone 
> trained?  If a few people are trained what happens when all of them happen to 
> be away as is often the case in the summer and at holidays when most people 
> are gone?
> 
> Because we?re a very urban community, we felt the EMS folks could reach us 
> w/in the allotted 5 mins.  Of course, that was our thinking BEFORE it came to 
> light that our EMS system has some really BIG holes in it.

Eris sez:
1. Ours lives in the common house. I dont know how big your property is, but we 
are on 2.3 acre and given the central location of the ch, in an emergency most 
of our residents could get there and back from anywhere on site within 5 
minutes, i think...but of course better to start cpr and send a runner for the 
AED.
2. We did a training at a community meeting. Heres the thing: the A stands for 
Automatic, when you turn it on IT TELLS YOU WHAT TO DO! So you can use it 
WITHOUT training! You do have to a. know where it is b. be willing to use it 
and c. understand English.
3. RE: EMS holes. In some parts of the country, like mine, one "hole" has to do 
with cell phones. If you call 911 on a landline, it goes to local dispatch and 
they can immediately see your location. Here, if you call 911 on a cell phone, 
all the calls go to CHP in sacramento and they have NO idea where you are and 
it takes longer for them to route your call to the appropriate agency. Couple 
years ago in my town there were two house fires Thanksgiving weekend. One 
called from landline,  EMS arrived in time to save the house; the other used 
cell phone, response time was 3-5 minutes longer and the house burned down. I 
have my cell phone programmed with the DIRECT emergeny #s for our local 
agencies.

eris 
frogsong, cotati, ca