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Portable
Defibrillators Protect Fans, Players, At High School Athletic Events
Redmond,
Wash. — January 2000 —
In big cities, sports arenas are among the top five places where sudden
cardiac arrest (SCA) occurs - but what about towns that don't have major
league stadiums? If little league or the varsity squad is the only game
in town, that's where people will go, and that's where SCA will happen.
SCA is one of the most common causes of death in the US, claiming about
325,000 lives each year. Until relatively recently, treatment for SCA
(an electrical shock known as defibrillation) was usually administered
either in a hospital or by emergency medical service (EMS) personnel.
Innovative communities are looking for ways
to improve access to defibrillation. They are equipping firefighters,
police - and now high school coaches and athletic trainers - with automated
external defibrillators
(AEDs), allowing them to provide critical treatment before EMS arrives.
The leading seller in the field is the LIFEPAK® 500 AED, manufactured
by Medtronic Physio-Control of Redmond, Wash.
AEDs
and After-School Sports
Rural and suburban high schools are following the lead of big-city sports
arenas, such as Portland's Rose Garden and Washington, D.C.'s MCI Center,
by having AEDs at sporting events. Although the primary concern is SCA
in the stands, young athletes occasionally suffer SCA, too - caused by
a genetic defect or a blow to the chest such as from a baseball or hockey
puck.
Jackson
County, W.Va., was the first county-wide school system
to place AEDs at all high school athletic events, and two more
LIFEPAK 500 AEDs were put in the middle schools as well. More
than 30 coaches, principals and other staff involved in the athletics
programs in both Ripley and Ravenswood have been trained to use
the devices.
"Every minute is critical in responding to SCA," explains
Dr. James Kyle, director of the Emergency Department at Jackson
General Hospital in Ripley and medical director for the school
AED program. "With these devices on site, we can deliver
treatment within two to three minutes - early enough to mean the
difference between life and death for many SCA victims."
At Quincy Senior High School in Quincy, Ill., there's a
LIFEPAK 500 AED at all home basketball and football games.
"Our basketball games draw about 4,500 people, mostly an
older crowd," says Lee Pappas, assistant principal and director
of athletics. "During one game we had to call four ambulances
- two for injuries on the court, and two for heart problems in
the stands."
Cardiac emergencies have occurred in the sports stadiums at West
Carrollton High School in Dayton, Ohio. Now athletic trainers
and team physicians are prepared to conquer cardiac arrest should
it happen again. With the state legislature expected to pass a
bill expanding the scope of who can use an AED, West Carrollton
athletic trainers plan to teach coaches, school nurses and other
school officials how to use the life-saving devices.
"Every school has budgetary restraints, but safety and emergency
response is a priority here," says Mike Laycox, athletic
trainer, who used booster club funds to purchase the 500. "West
Carrollton is a proactive school that saw the need for an AED
and went for it."
Westwood Regional High School in New Jersey
placed a LIFEPAK 500 AED in the athletic training/sports medicine
program because Head Athletic Trainer Robb Rehberg had heard of
too many cardiac related deaths in high school athletics.
"Every year for as long as I can remember there's been at
least one sudden death at a high school in the US where an AED
may have made a difference," says Rehberg. "By training
staff to learn CPR and having an AED on site, athletic trainers
can do something to improve chances of survival of on-the-field
cardiac arrest."
Unlike the models of defibrillators intended for use by paramedics,
nurses and doctors, AEDs do not require extensive medical knowledge
to understand or operate. The expertise needed to analyze the
heart's electrical function is programmed into the device, enabling
trained professionals to respond to cardiac emergencies.
Based near Seattle, Wash., Medtronic Physio-Control is the recognized
leader in the manufacture, sale and service of external defibrillators
and related medical equipment and accessories. Since the company
pioneered portable defibrillation technology 30 years ago, its
LIFEPAK products have been used by field emergency medical personnel
and staff at eight out of 10 US hospitals, and now by first responders
such as police and security officers, to save hundreds of thousands
of lives. For more information about Medtronic Physio-Control,
visit the company's website at http://www.physiocontrol.com.
Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT), headquartered in Minneapolis, is
the world's leading medical technology company specializing in
implantable and interventional therapies. Its Internet address
is http://www.medtronic.com.
Information:
Alisha Holdener, (206) 217-9700, ext. 225
Key Contacts
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High
Schools with AEDs: |
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Dr.
James Kyle, Jackson General Hospital, Ripley, W. Va.
(304) 372-2731, ext. 285 |
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Lee
Pappas, Quincy Senior High School, Ill.
(217) 224-3771 |
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Mike
Laycox, West Carrollton High School, Ohio
(937) 434-5063 |
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Robb
Rehberg, Westwood Regional High School, N.J. and National
Safety Council Advisory Board
(201) 664-0880, ext. 227
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| Clinical: |
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Linda
Del Monte, RN, Clinical Manager, Medtronic Physio-Control,
Redmond, Wash.
(425) 867-4644 |
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