Automated external defibrillators

New community program helps arrest sudden cardiac death

The Monterey area is heart-safer now, thanks to a new life saving equipment donation program at Community Hospital.

In collaboration with the American Heart Association and Medtronic Physio-Control, the hospital began providing automated external defibrillators (AEDs) last summer to key locations throughout the community. This program could potentially benefit as many as 130 Peninsula cardiac arrest patients each year.

Cardiac arrest is the termination of a person’s normal heartbeat.The most common cause is an abnormal rhythm where the heartbeat stops and the lower heart chambers quiver, a twitching sort of phenomenon called ventricular fibrillation. The heart is unable to pump blood when this happens, and brain damage or even death can occur in as little as four minutes if the victim does not receive prompt treatment. The only treatment for cardiac arrest is defibrillation, or an electric shock, administered within minutes of the patient collapsing. A device called a defibrillator is used to deliver the electric shock, which hopefully restores the person’s heartbeat.

Every second counts. Effective CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) can double a victim’s chance of survival, and defibrillation within three minutes of a victim collapsing can improve the chance of survival up to 74 percent. If no CPR or defibrillation occurs, the victim’s chances of survival plunge 7 percent to 10 percent every minute.

Since about 80 percent of cardiac arrests occur outside the hospital, and someone witnesses 60 percent of them, many lives can be saved if defibrillation is available throughout the community. If defibrillation is not readily available, 95 percent of cardiac arrest victims die before reaching a hospital.

Erik Landry, lifeguard for the California State Parks in Monterey, now has access to an automated external defibrillator.

Until recently, just a handful of AED machines were on hand locally. In most cases, victims of cardiac arrest had to wait for treatment until an ambulance arrived. And by then it was usually too late. Fortunately, though, new technology makes AEDs safe, portable, and easy to use. These devices can be placed at high-volume or high-risk locations and, because they are fully automated, anyone who takes a CPR class can be trained to use them.

“The project has been a collaborative effort involving our local EMS agency, fire departments, city personnel, and business owners,” says Martha Kennifer, R.N., coordinator of the hospital’s Cardiopulmonary Wellness Program. “The American Heart Association and Medtronic Physio-Control have also been important partners in the project.”

Community Hospital is donating 20 to 30 of these lifesaving machines to a variety of facilities and locations around the Monterey Peninsula to ensure that cardiac arrest victims have immediate access to defibrillation while emergency crews are on their way. Those locations include remote sites and locations that serve large groups of elderly populations.

“We have a pretty high number of patients who come in with chest pain, so we’re very excited about the AEDs in both of our facilities,” says Dale Rininger, manager of the Seaside Family Health Center and Marina Health Clinic, which each received an AED from Community Hospital in August.

“We’re grateful that Community Hospital is participating in a program where everyone can share in representing a high standard of cardiac care that didn’t previously exist in Monterey County,” Rininger adds. As county facilities, the
Seaside and Marina sites had tried unsuccessfully for two years to obtain AEDs.

For remote locations, access to an AED is especially critical. According to Dr. Deborah Biller, current chair of the Family Practice Division at Community Hospital and director of the Big Sur Health Center, which also got its AED in August, “We all try to be basic CPR-certified, but this isn’t an advanced-care facility. Now, in addition to our EKG machine, the AED from Community Hospital allows us to treat patients who need defibrillation during the crucial minutes before an ambulance arrives.”

Timing is equally crucial for the three lifeguard trucks that patrol 92 miles of local beach, parking, picnic, and camping areas. “AEDs cut out the extra step of relying on an ambulance to arrive in time,” according to Eric Sturm, supervisor for the California State Parks in Monterey.

Sturm says that before Community Hospital made AEDs available last summer, lifeguards had to extricate the victim from the surf, then wait for a paramedic and an ambulance to arrive. At remote beaches, it might take 15 minutes for an ambulance to reach the accident site.

Other initial recipients of Community Hospital AEDs include the Monterey Conference Center, Sally Griffin Senior Center in Pacific Grove, Carmel Foundation, and Oldemeyer Center in Seaside.

“The initial response has been so positive,” Kennifer says. “So many people have embraced the opportunity to make our community a safer one. We’re encouraging public participation by offering heart-saver CPR courses. We want to train as many people as possible to help one another at the site of a cardiac arrest.”

The bottom line, says Sturm: “It’s nice to know that the public agencies serving you have the best, most updated lifesaving equipment available.”

The AED donation program is part of Community Hospital’s ongoing commitment to promote heart health. Our new heart surgery program is currently in the planning stages and will be implemented during the next several years.

For more information, contact Martha Kennifer at 625-4765 or martha.kennifer@chomp.org.