Did you know that since last month, any member of the public has been allowed to use the 10,000 AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators) that have been placed in shopping centres, airports and railway stations nationwide. I didn’t know this, until I read this article.
Automated External Defibrillators in airports and rail stations
For the 30,000 people who suffer cardiac arrest away from a hospital each year, their chances of survival are as high as 75% if defibrillation is delivered rapidly. The British Heart Foundation knows of at least 230 lives that have been saved already.
A heart attack is the main cause of cardiac arrest, when the heart stops effectively pumping blood around the body and goes into ventricular fibrillation, meaning that the muscles are contracting randomly rather than regularly. Eventually, the heart stops. A defibrillator uses electricity to shock the heart out of this lethal rhythm and back to normal.
From the moment someone stops breathing, it takes four minutes before their brain starts to die. Applying a controlled shock within five minutes of collapse provides the best chance of survival. For every minute a heart is stopped, the chances of staying alive are reduced by 14%
The AED automatically carries out many of the key stages of resuscitation so that any member of the public can use the device without too much difficulty. It recognises the electrocardiogram rhythm (ECG) to assesses whether the heart is shockable. If cardiac arrest has not occurred or the rhythm is incompatible, a shock will not be administered. The machines even assess how strong the shock needs to be.
If someone collapses in most of the city’s Tube and train stations, as well as all international airports, they are within 2 minutes of an AED. The devices are placed in small white boxes around the walls. Have you seen them when you have been at the airport or train station?
These devices have the latest technology - adhesive pads which have better contact with the skin than traditional paddles. Once turned on, the machine instructs where to put the pads on the patient’s chest, one up near the right shoulder and the other down by his left ribs. The idea is that when the machine’s electricity passes through the heart it passes through the normal route. The AED then checks the heart rhythm, and the user then presses the orange shock button.
As the author herself said, it is reassuring to know that these AED’s exist in airports and train stations, and can be used, if needed, to potentially save people’s lives. For example, Demetrios Generis, a service team leader at Heathrow, says he has saved two lives by using a defibrillator…Hopefully, now more people will be aware that they can use them if an emergency arises.
