Whenever I encounter someone I haven’t seen in a while, whether that is an old neighbor or friend, the inevitable question arises: “What are you up to this summer?” When I attempt to explain to them that I work at HeartHero, whose mission is to revolutionize the Automated External Defibrillator (AED), I am always met with “what’s an AED?”
Everyone knows what it is once it’s explained because everyone has seen it on TV a million times. You know, the doctor yelling “CLEAR” and a shock being delivered in a hospital setting. But those are just in hospitals, right? That’s usually what they think. Every single one of these people who are uneducated on AEDs is a person that could witness Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) and would never think to reach for an AED. Out of all the required health courses I have taken in school, I had never once heard of reaching for an AED when someone collapses even though they are displayed throughout schools.
SCA claims the lives of 475,000 Americans per year according to the American Heart Association. It can affect any person of any age. I am sure that most people can think of someone they know who has been affected by SCA. Why isn’t there more awareness about it then?
If your parent, grandparent, or partner collapses from SCA, what are you going to do? Why wait for emergency services to arrive (an average of 7 minutes) when you are fully capable of defibrillating your loved one yourself with the nearest AED. Immediately taking action is your best option for their survival. The faster you restart their heart with an AED, the higher their chances of survival (90% if they are defibrillated within the first minute, 74% if within the first three minutes). When an AED is applied after 10 minutes, the chances of survival are less than 1%. Everyone should be empowered to save a life while emergency services are on the way.
So maybe it’s time (or long past?) to educate the public on what an AED is and what the benefits of owning one are. It’s not nearly as intimidating as people make it out to be, and they can be located in most public areas (airports, schools, train stations, malls etc.) Next time you’re out, see if you can locate an AED. Then consider, if 70% of SCA instances occur at home, is an AED something useful to own?