Campaign for defibrillators takes hold in community
More of the devices, used to shock a person in cardiac arrest, are being put in public places.
By JARED GOLDBERG-LEOPOLD
Published January 18, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - It's the kind of campaign politicians would envy.
And a campaign that at least one politician appreciated. Bill McBride, the 2002 Democratic gubernatorial candidate, is perhaps the most famous of the growing number of Americans whose lives have been saved by automated external defibrillators, or AEDs.
"I've been sort of overwhelmed with people who had not known about this and now are enthused and working on this to install them," McBride said. "I had calls from people who had actually had their lives saved by the defibrillators. They were pleased that it had gotten so much publicity."
Uniting around the McBride incident - which occurred at a Tampa health club - heart advocates, first responders and medical professionals have pushed for more defibrillators in public places and businesses.
And their campaign has worked. In the past three years, the number of AEDs in Pinellas County has increased from 72 at the end of 2000 to 377 on Dec. 29. Most of the AEDs have been placed in government buildings, health care facilities, recreational facilities and large business offices.
"People hear about it and they're now sold on the idea," said Dr. Charles Sand, president-elect of the American Heart Association's Florida/Puerto Rico board of directors. "There's more risk not having it than having it. People are just concerned about their visitors and constituents."
With increased media attention to cardiac arrest victims, lower-priced AEDs and new "Good Samaritan" laws that make defibrillators legally viable, businesses and government facilities have been snapping up the devices, said Pinellas EMS director Chuck Kearns. AEDs, which can be as small as a hardback novel, generally range from $800 to $3,000 - a price that many of Pinellas County's larger businesses have deemed a worthwhile investment.
The smart devices, which will not deliver a shock unless a patient suffering cardiac arrest needs it, have saved at least seven lives in Pinellas during the past three years, Kearns said.
North Shore Pool had no defibrillator when Robert Ray, a 54-year-old triathlete, died there in July 2002. Ray's widow and the Mad Dogs triathlon club embarked on a campaign to equip public areas with AEDs.
Thanks to fundraising by the Mad Dogs and St. Petersburg General Hospital's medical staff, all nine city pools now carry AEDs.
Every time she swims at North Shore now, Rose Marie Ray sees an AED with her husband's picture on it.
"You know what it's like to walk in the pool for the first time after you see your husband dead?" said Ray, who owns Mansion House Bed & Breakfast, 105 Fifth Avenue NE. "To have him die like that just because there wasn't a damn device that cost $2,500."
With the support of the Mad Dogs, Ray has made it her personal mission to spread the word about AEDs. In addition to her fundraising efforts, she said she plans to write a book about sudden cardiac arrest.
"This is a grass-roots effort that can get bigger," Ray said. "It's sick that we don't have them everywhere."
The American Heart Association and other advocates want to make sure that all places where people have high incidence of cardiac arrest - such as health clubs, golf courses and senior centers - are equipped with AEDs. The next step in the campaign? Installing AEDs in 11,000 police cars across Florida.
"We're trying to get it in our law enforcement vehicles," said Sand, who also is a doctor at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa. "I like to describe it as sort of a roaming AED."
Putting AEDs in public places is important, Kearns said, because ambulances can get to a scene only so fast. With every minute that passes after a person suffers cardiac arrest, the victim's chance of survival drops 7 to 10 percent.
"One of these days I might be the patient," Kearns said. "I'd sure like to be revived and to wake up and tell some bystander citizen who grabbed an AED off the wall, "Thanks for saving my life."'
