In an effort to increase our community’s odds of surviving sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), the City of Baytown has bought additional automated external defibrillators to place in city owned buildings. AED’s are used by first responders, such as police officers and firefighters, to treat victims of SCA.
“One of our missions is to protect the lives of the citizens of Baytown, and this additional purchase of AED’s is an important step in fulfilling that mission,” said Mike Lester, Director of Health & EMS. “Before AED’s, we were limited to performing CPR while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Now, the citizens of Baytown can rest a little easier knowing that their odds of surviving sudden cardiac arrest are getting better.”
The City of Baytown started an AED program three years ago with the purchase of six AED’s. The initial six were strategically place in public buildings with high concentrations of employees and citizens: City Hall, Library, Community Center, Museum / Health Department, Municipal Service Center, and the Municipal Court Building. Utilizing Fire Control Prevention Emergency Medical Service Sales Tax Funds (FCPEMS) the City has purchased an additional ten AED’s. These AED’s will be placed at the Police Administration Building, City Jail, Police Academy, Emergency Operations Center, Fire Administration Building, Animal Services Building, Baytown Area Water Authority, Parks Department Service Center and a second location at the Municipal Service Center.
The City of Baytown Health Department and EMS Department also utilized FCPEMS tax funds to purchase two monitor/defibrillators for their ambulances as well as a new ambulance. All three front line ambulances are equipped with the new state of the art monitors/defibrillators. The new monitor/defibrillators allow paramedics to interpret and transmit information to the emergency room for the physician to read before the ambulance arrives.
“Sudden cardiac arrest strikes people of all ages and fitness levels, usually without warning,” said Dana Dalbey, EMS Coordinator. “Continuing an AED program in our city can help us protect the lives of our students, co-workers, and citizens. With the new AED’s we are better prepared to deal with sudden cardiac arrest.”
Lionel Williams, City of Baytown Training and Employment Manager, stated: “OSHA encourages employers to consider the use of AED’s at their worksites to reduce the time to defibrillation, with the goal of improving survival. AED’s are easy to use and can make the critical difference in reviving individuals who suffer from sudden cardiac arrest.”
Nationwide, there are more than 460,000 deaths each year from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Estimates are that more than half of these deaths occur suddenly. Currently, only about 5 percent of victims survive sudden cardiac arrest. SCA strikes without warning and can kill its victims within minutes. The American Heart Association estimates that focusing on a strong Chain of Survival (early access to care, early CPR, early defibrillation, and early advanced medical care) can increase survival rates to 20 percent or more, and could save at least 40,000 lives each year.
“Once a person is in cardiac arrest, every minute counts to get the heart beating normally again,” said Dr. David Hall, medical director for the City of Baytown Health and EMS Department and the Baytown Fire and Rescue Service. “For every minute that passes the chance of survival decreases by 10 percent. After ten minutes, survival is unlikely. That is why early CPR and defibrillation are so important—they can help save thousands of lives each year.”
About half of all victims who suddenly collapse initially require defibrillation. AED’s enables first responders to provide lifesaving therapy in the critical minutes before the ambulance arrives. AED’s require minimal training to operate; voice and text prompts guide the operator through the appropriate CPR and defibrillation steps, as necessary.
“Our future plans for the FCPEMS Tax Funds will be to equip as many of the Baytown Police Department patrol vehicles with AED’s as possible” says Mike Lester. “We recently had two Baytown patrol officers eating lunch at the Golden Corral on Garth Road when a customer went into SCA. Fortunately for the customer, the Baytown Police officers had been trained in CPR and were able to save that customers life. This kind of team work approach to SCA is why the AED program is so important”.
For more information on cardiac arrest and AED’s, visit www.americanheart.org