Last year in July Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, suffered cardiac arrest during a basketball workout. He seemed to be a healthy athlete before this. Cardiac arrest is something that can happen to anyone, no matter the age or how healthy they seem to be. Luckily, there is a life-saving device called an AED (automated external defibrillator) that aids in situations like this.
Simply put, an AED device is used when someone suffers sudden cardiac arrest, a moment where the heart stops beating temporarily. It measures the heart beats and administers an electric shock to help the person’s heart maintain or reestablish a normal rhythm. AED’s have a 70% success rate if you administer it within the first 3 minutes of the person’s cardiac arrest.
The AED device is something everyone can use, when you open the device it talks you through how to use it. While it is
recommended you have been trained in some form to use it, it is not a necessity. Coaches and athletic trainers have to be trained to administer the device if needed. According to state statute, “The law requires school boards to have at each school, if funding is available, (1) an AED and (2) school staff trained in its use and in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).” Each school is supposed to have multiple AED devices located near high risk areas, and they are suggested to be about three minutes from every point in the school.
Mrs. Sears, the athletic director at Morgan, is certified for both adults and infants. AED training is a part of getting CPR certified. Sears explained it takes a “few hours to get the initial certification, but you do have to renew it every 2 years.”
While Sears has never had to use one, she knows someone who suffered two heart attacks in his 30s, both times the AED device saved his life.
The importance of these devices are to save lives. “Every second counts,” Morgan nurse Margaret Zarcone said. Before she started working at Morgan, she worked at a hospital in the O.R. There she saw many patients who suffered cardiac arrest, where her and her team had to use an AED to save them.
These devices are monitored on a monthly basis by Morgan’s nurses, making sure that everything is running correctly. The pads that are on the defibrillators do expire eventually, so they are replaced when needed. There is also a power pack that will eventually wear out that signals when it needs to be replaced by beeping.
