Copyright 2006 Tribune Review Publishing Company
All Rights Reserved
By BOB STILES
Tribune-Review (Greensburg, PA)
The folks at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral are looking to save more than souls inside their walls.
The church is among 20 locations in Greensburg picked to receive for free a life-saving automated external defibrillator, which is used in certain cases of cardiac arrest.
“It gives us an opportunity to administer much-needed first aid until ambulance personnel get here and we can turn it over to the paramedics,” said Jack Simon, parish facilities manager and an emergency medical technician.
“At this point, all we have is an oxygen tank and a ... bag to resuscitate.”
A seven-member committee of city leaders has raised nearly $23,098 — including a $20,000 grant from the Allegheny Foundation and $1,500 from the Greensburg Rotary Club — to buy 20 AEDs and place them for free at certain spots in the city.
An AED is a portable device that typically consists of a defibrillator, two electrode pads and connecting wires. The instrument is used most commonly in cases of cardiac arrest caused by ventricular fibrillation — when the heart muscle begins to quiver and stops pumping.
An AED is most effective if used within the first six minutes of cardiac arrest.
“This is a good instrument to save a lot of lives,” said Greensburg fire Chief Ed Hutchinson, a committee member.
The committee’s decision about where to place the AEDs was based on where numerous people gather regularly and where the need for an AED might be the greatest, said City Administrator Sue Trout, another committee member.
The selected sites include churches, government offices, recreation centers and school gymnasiums. Most of the places picked already have confirmed they want an AED, Trout said.
Main Bowling Center on South Main Street was among the locations selected.
“Our big reason for wanting to have an AED is because we have a lot of senior citizens a lot of the time,” said Barry Kassel, bowling center owner. “And from what people tell us ... it’s a great thing to have.”
The bowling center also has thousands of patrons each week. The cathedral averages about 2,200 in attendance for Mass on weekends. About 100 people are in the church at times each weekday.
“By putting the AEDs as they are throughout the city in the largest populated areas, I think that’s a big plus,” Simon said.
The committee agreed to order 20 Philips HeartStart Defibrillators at a cost of $1,033 per unit, Trout said. The company was one of three vendors considered.
Trout said Philips was selected mostly because of the ease in using its AEDs and the extended shelf life of a related battery.
Simon said he knows from his own experience with Greensburg Hose Company 1 of times when an AED saved a life.
“I can remember two, maybe three cases when we helped to bring a person back,” he said.
Plans are to hold free AED training sessions at the selected locations in the city, Trout said.
Saybrook housing development, about five miles north of downtown Greensburg, has ordered four AEDs from Medtronic, based in Minneapolis, for $978 each as part of a grass-roots effort in the community, Trout said.
The nearly 400-home development raised about $5,200. The instruments will be stationed at homes of emergency responders in the housing plan, Trout said.
The additional funds raised will be used for batteries and other replacement needs.
Organizers said Saybrook was selected because of its distance from downtown Greensburg and the presence of emergency responders there.
Another factor in holding the fundraising drive was that Saybrook already has an established homeowners association.
About 250,000 people die each year of sudden cardiac arrest, according to the American Heart Association.