On Tuesday night in the NHL, St Louis Blues defenceman Jay Bouwmeester collpased on the bench after experiencing a cardiac episode. He was revived by a defibrillator and now the city is reminding people that AED’s (automated external defibrillators) are readily available at city facilities.
Speaking on The Jeff Andreas Show, Aquatic Supervisor Andrew Smeaton says they’re generally located in the lobby of buildings. “There’s basically a big steel box. It’s about a foot-and-a-half by a foot-and-a-half and it has a sign above it that has the AED logo and symbol on it. You can look for the steel box or the AED sign in the facility lobby and also all our facility staff are going to be trained on how to use and AED and know where they are.”
He says they’re easy to use, so don’t be intimidated by the machine. “The machine actually talks you through the process of using it. So as soon as someone actually collapses, the first response should be to call for help and hope to find someone who is trained, and also trying to access an AED. So immediately send someone to find an AED and sending them to the lobby is generally a good start.”
Smeaton says it’s a reminder to act quick and if you suspect something is wrong. “If anyone were to collapse and it seems like it’s a cardiac arrest episode, we always tell people ‘go and get the AED and put it on someone.’ Because if it isn’t [a cardiac episode] it’s a good idea to have the equipment there and put it on the person so that if it was, you’re ready to go.”
Smeaton says cases of the A-E-D’s actually attaching to someone happens two or three times a year, but they’ve only been activiated three or four times since 2013.
One issue the city has to deal with is AED’s getting stolen. “We have them installed as Sagebursh Theatre, the Pavillion theatre,. We have them available with the Tennis Club and the Pickle Ball club which has locations both in Riverside Park and on McArthur Island. And we have them at some of our sports fields as well. The main issue at pour sports fields is unfortunately them being stolen. So we have them locked up at our sports fields and unlock them using high use times.”
AED’s cost about $1900 to purchase and the ongoing maintenance cost is about $120 every two years.
Listen to the entire interview below.
https://soundcloud.com/user-965676831/jeff-andreas-show-andrew-smeaton-feb-13
