WHAT IS AN AED AND HOW IS IT USED?
We really are dedicated to caring for our members and there is one way we can help you all to help us before we arrive on scene…especially when someone has a cardiac arrest. Read and learn about AED’s and CPR. You may wonder what AED stands for. The letters AED stand for automated external defibrillator. An AED is used to deliver a lifesaving shock to a person’s heart when the heart is in “arrest”. Arrest rhythms (or heartbeats which are only quivering or inefficient and abnormal) don’t allow the heart to deliver lifesaving blood to the body. If the rhythm is not converted to a normal rhythm by an AED, the victim will not survive. An AED is VERY SIMPLE to operate by following the verbal prompts or instructions after the AED is turned on. And don’t worry about shocking someone who doesn’t need to be shocked, because the AED is “intelligent” and only instructs the responder to push the SHOCK button only if necessary. Also, pushing SHOCK when unnecessary will NOT cause the AED to deliver a shock.
All you have to remember is to turn it on and the AED tells the responder the “rest of the story”!
Responding as quickly as possible is crucial to the outcome of reviving a person in cardiac arrest, and it is important to learn how to respond with confidence when you witness someone collapse or when you come upon someone who is not responsive. Every minute of delay decreases the person’s chances of survival by 7% to 10%.
Your role as a lifesaver begins by trying to awaken the person, sending someone to get an AED and call 911. You should remain with the victim until help arrives.
If you have been trained in CPR and you determine that the victim is unresponsive, not breathing and is in probable cardiac arrest, it is important to start CPR as soon as possible by using two hands to push the heel of one hand down on the breastbone between the nipple line at a rate of 100 times a minute…and push hard, at least 2 inches downward, allowing the chest to recoil between pushes. DO NOT STOP until someone attaches the AED and the prompts tell you to stop CPR in order to analyze the rhythm. If necessary, the prompts will instruct everyone to clear the patient, not to touch the patient, and to push SHOCK. After shock is delivered a second person should immediately start compressions again at rate of 100 times a minute (hard and fast!)
If you have not been trained, follow these instructions, but if you can become a trained CPR provider and to use an AED with confidence, you are light years ahead of the game!
Pecan Plantation has AED’s placed at various public areas: Behind the front desk at the clubhouse, in the Golf Pro Shop, in the Tennis Pro Shop, at the PAC at the front desk, at the Nutcracker Golf Club in the exercise area, as well as our emergency vehicles.
Call the Charlie Lee Memorial PPEMS Building and ask Rene’ to schedule you or your group for AED and CPR training from our outstanding EMS crew! Learning is fun and YOU may save a life! (817) 573-1643
Sandra Winfield, Chief PPEMS