Re: Defibrillator in the common house | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Jude Foster (foster.judegmail.com) | |
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2018 08:34:32 -0700 (PDT) |
Hello all. I’ve been following the AED machine discussion with some interest, and this morning I decided to copy and paste a post I sent out here in my community, Trillium Hollow in Portland Oregon, when it was a hot topic last year. This is kind of long, but worth considering I think. To give you a visual image as you read, Trillium has one large building with 28 units on 3 floors with a large central courtyard on the second level; our Common House is across the plaza and driveway a running 30 seconds to a minute away, at best. I take CPR classes every two years, and at my last training, the trainer made the facts about CPR and AEDs abundantly clear. So here is what I wrote: "In a case of cardiac arrest outside of a medical facility, CPR brings the person back to life in only about 10% of cases. We have an almost mythical impression that CPR saves lives, perhaps from TV. Sometimes, especially in the case of a child, or a healthy adult who has an accident of some kind, it works the miracle. But overall, only 10% of the time. That is sobering. It is not an argument against doing CPR. AED's increase that percent to 50% - 75% (there's disagreement on this percent), but only if applied in the first 3 minutes after cardiac arrest. After 3 minutes, the likelihood of bringing that person back goes down fast. Seconds and minutes count. Modern AED's are easy to use, with voice prompts and lights etc; the machine assesses the victim and then talks you through the process. People could learn how to use one pretty easily. So let's imagine a few possible scenarios: 1. Let's say we purchase an AED, and we decide to keep it in the Common House. Person A goes into cardiac arrest on the stairs to the third floor. If he's lucky, someone sees or hears him, and that someone calls 911. Then that person yells for help, gets him down to flat concrete and begins to do compressions, and yells again for someone else to run to the Common House to get the AED. Minutes pass fast. He keeps on with compressions. EMT's arrive before the AED is even used. 2. Or we decide to keep the AED in the courtyard by the elevator. Person B goes into cardiac arrest while getting his mail at the Common House. No one witnesses it. Or if someone else is there, that person finds the phone, calls 911, then starts compressions, and hopes that a third person can hear her yelling to get the AED. Again, minutes pass. 3. Or Person C goes into cardiac arrest at night, and she lives alone in her unit. That's it. 4. Or Person D goes into sudden cardiac arrest at night, or in the morning, whenever, and her partner is there, and finds his phone and calls 911, and puts his phone on speaker, and starts compressions, and screams for help. Or he opens his door and yells for help before beginning compressions. If it all unfolds as best it can, someone brings the AED fast, before the paramedics arrive. The AED is used. 5. Or best case, Person E goes into sudden cardiac arrest during dinner, and people trained in CPR are there, and the AED machine is right there, and no mistakes are made. One person calls 911, another starts CPR, the third gets out the AED. After a shock is applied, the EMT's arrive. Person A has the best chance to survive, but still, it's not a sure thing. To summarize this reality check: Even with some of us trained in CPR, and even if we had a $1500 AED, circumstances would have to be just right to bring Person ABCDE back to life. So should we purchase an AED? That is the question.” [We haven’t yet.] Now you can transpose those scenarios to your own communities’ physical layouts and perhaps think it through some more. Jude
-
Defibrillator in the Common House Thomas Lofft, June 24 2018
- Re: Defibrillator in the common house Jude Foster, June 25 2018
-
Re: Defibrillator in the common house Sharon Villines, June 26 2018
- Re: Defibrillator in the common house Elizabeth Magill, June 26 2018
- Re: Defibrillator in the common house Mary English, June 26 2018
Results generated by Tiger Technologies Web hosting using MHonArc.