Atrial fibrillation is a serious condition that merits treatment, but ventricular defibrillation is an acute life-threatening event. A defibrillator is used to treat ventricular fibrillation where the bottom two chambers of the heart (the ventricles) are not effectively pumping blood. The right ventricle pumps unoxygenated blood to the lungs to pick up oxygen which is needed by the cells of the body to produce energy, and the left ventricle pumps oxygenated blood to everywhere else in the body. You can’t live if your heart isn’t pumping blood. The condition where the heart is no longer pumping blood is called cardiac arrest.A defibrillator works by delivering an electrical shock to the heart which temporarily freezes it, hopefully allowing the heart’s natural pacemaker (the sinoatrial or SA node) to kick in, which then restarts the heart in a nice, organized, blood-pumping rhythm. Unfortunately, the probability of successful defibrillation diminishes rapidly over time as the body’s oxygen and energy reserves become depleted.

It wasn’t long ago that defibrillators were only available in hospitals. They then expanded to ambulances, then firetrucks, and you now have the capability to restore someone’s pulseless, breathless, soon-to-be corpse using an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) just about anywhere. AEDs are ingeniously designed marvels that have reduced the act of restoring someone’s heartbeat to little more than turning on the machine and following the audio prompts (that’s right, the machine talks to you). Studies have documented survival rates as high as 74% when immediate bystander CPR is combined with delivering the first shock using an AED within 3 minutes. The body has a limited reserve capacity, and the longer it goes without oxygenated blood, the lower the chance of survival. By the time the ambulance, or even the firetruck, reaches you, it’s likely too late. That’s the power of Public Access Defibrillator (PAD) programs.

Public Access Defibrillator programs are simple: put AEDs where people gather. Public Access Defibrillators save lives. Your chance of surviving sudden cardiac arrest, which kills around 350,000 Americans every year, in an office, school, library, gym, dentist’s office, etc. with an AED is dramatically higher than the current 3-5% out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest survival rate here in Massachusetts.

Implementing a Public Access Defibrillator at your work is easier than ever. I can coordinate the purchasing of an AED and the needed helper gear (an alarmed wall-mount case, spare pads, a fast response kit that contains a safety razor, face shield to give rescue breaths, and more). I can teach you how to use it, and set you up with a qualified physician to offer medical oversight of the device. AEDs require a prescription from a medical doctor, and a medical doctor to oversee the Public Access Defibrillator program, which is why I’ve teamed up with Dr. Mike Erdos, an accomplshed emergency physician, former Massachusetts State Emergency Medical Services Director, and authorized Philips AED distributor, who is one of the absolute best.

You spend an awful lot of time at work. It would be a shame to die there. If you’d like to decrease the risk of that happening by an awful lot, the first step is to contact me.