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Community Info Health News
 How To Reach Us: St. Louis Front Page Community News P.O. Box 1354 St. Louis, MO 63188 http://www.slfp.com Voice: 314-771-0200 Fax: 314-771-0300 To submit news, contact: editor@slfp.com  |
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By Betty Magrath and Bob Moore To initiate the program, approximately 90 Powerheart(R) AED G3s were purchased from Cardiac Science. St. Louis' new PAD program makes it the latest major U.S. city to partner with the Irvine, CA-based company, joining San Diego, Minneapolis, Miami and Nashville. "The St. Louis Project Heartbeat" PAD program is being coordinated by the St. Louis Fire Department, which in addition to planning the deployment of AEDs, is reaching out to private citizens and organizations through a public awareness campaign on the importance of defibrillation therapy and the use of AEDs to treat victims of a massive heart attack, also called sudden cardiac arrest ("SCA"). In a phone interview, St. Louis Fire Chief Sherman George told St. Louis Front Page that his goal was to put AEDs in every public facility, highly trafficked public places and businesses in the next few years. "When I became chief of the department, we had 3 LEAD advanced life support (ALS) defibrillators and I wanted to do things better and get newer, more advanced units into the ambulances. We didn't have the money to purchase more units, so I went to the Regional Hospital Foundation who provided a grant to purchase 12 LEAD (ALS) defibrillators." He began researching other products on the market and the track record of PAD program successes in other cities. Four years ago at a conference, he learned first-hand about AEDs from a police chief in Hawaii. "He was also a basketball coach. During a game, he suffered a cardiac arrest. They got the defibrillator out of his car and saved his life." Inspired by the incident, Chief George asked Doug Randall, EMS training officer for the St. Louis Fire Department, to put the program in motion for St. Louis. A grant of $986,861 was obtained from the Missouri Foundation for Health to purchase 90 AEDs.
"Part of our goal is to teach people to live healthy lifestyles. But what happens if we're at a point where they can go into cardiac arrest. If you are properly trained in using this device, which can take as short as three and a half hours to learn, then there is a chance that within a three to five minute window a person can have up to a 70% chance of survival," explained Randall. Randall related that the department is in the process of creating a public access to defibrillation program. "We are currently training approximately 5,000 city employees. There are currently 2 AEDs at City Hall because we started a pilot program in July 2003. We have one in the jury selection room at the Civil Courts building, one at the Carnahan building and one at the medium security facility; 2 in ranger vehicles in Forest Park. The grant that we received was limited to just city government facilities because that is the direct control that the mayor of the City of St. Louis has." It only takes saving one life to realize that spending a million dollars on AEDs is not a lot of money - St. Louis Fire Chief Sherman George"Our first priority to get the AED units we have purchased onto the fire trucks and putting them into all staff vehicles," stated Randall. "So, if we are out in the public and someone goes down with a cardiac arrest, we can help them immediately." The St. Louis Fire Department has its own training center where the average citizen can receive AED/CPR training. "We will be offering a package to provide training, support and AEDs for companies or locations that are non-government entities," continued Randall. "For example, Anheuser Busch and AG Edwards have AEDs. Our goal is to place units throughout the community, especially where there is a large number of employees." Randall explained that AED placement is most useful where there are barriers to access, meaning security codes needed to get into certain buildings, multiple floors and unreliable systems. He emphasized that the units are primarily for use by lay people who have had training via the American Heart Association or the Red Cross. "It only takes saving one life to realize that spending a million dollars on AEDs is not a lot of money," stated Chief George. "This program is beneficial not only to our citizens but to our fellow firefighters as well. Heart attacks and SCA remain the number one killers of firefighters today." Any lay person can sign up for a heart saver AED class, sponsored by the America Heart Association, through the St. Louis Fire Department. For more information, call 314-289-1938.  St. Louis Fire Chief Sherman George (left) and EMS Training Officer Doug Randall demonstrate the AED unit and CPR on a training mannequin at the St. Louis Fire Department headquarters. Archived Stories: Breakfast Is Key to Health According to New Government Diet Guidelines Electronic Product Codes to Be Used to Fight Counterfeit Drugs  The SLFP.com - Community Info is presented in conjunction with the St. Louis Front Page and Southwest Illinois News. The sites are owned and maintained by the Moore Design Group for the sole purpose of disseminating news and information about the Metropolitan St. Louis area. Text or graphics may not be copied, rewritten or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission. For more information, contact editor@slfp.com All rights reserved world wide © 1996 - 2008 Moore Design Group . |
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