By Bob Mahlburg
Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Florida)
Copyright 2006 Sarasota Herald-Tribune Co.
Dozens of little boxes with the power to save lives will start appearing soon in more public places across Florida.
Gov. Jeb Bush has signed two new laws that will put heart defibrillators in most of Florida’s 159 state parks and allow youth sports groups to apply for about $9 million in grant money to buy the devices.
For millions of park visitors and young athletes, the laws increase chances that a life-saving device will be within reach if they suffer a cardiac arrest.
“It avoids a lot of heartache,” said State Rep. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood. “It has the potential to save lives from unexpected deaths of youths in the prime of their lives.”
Small portable defibrillators — which can shock a heart back into normal rhythm — have been put in offices, airplanes and public buildings across the nation for years. Advocates want to place them in as many places as possible because they boost survival rates by 50 percent if used quickly.
The new laws in Florida follow the death last year of a Tampa high school baseball player who might have been saved had a defibrillator been nearby.
Sobel and other state officials who have been trying for years to pass the laws credit this year’s success on heightened public attention, including tearful testimony from the mother of the Tampa youth, Matthew Miulli, who died of cardiac arrest during a pre-season practice.
Miulli’s story also was the focus of Herald-Tribune investigation last year about young athletes in Florida who died amid gaps in basic safety equipment, training and medical exams. Sobel said Miulli’s parents came to her after reading those stories and asked to have the bill named for their son.
“The testimony of the parents, who I guess saw the greater good to help others, really helped,” Sobel said. “It put a face to the facts.”
The resulting law, the Gordon & Miulli Act, which is also named for a South Florida teen who died, allows nonprofit groups like Little League baseball and community football teams to apply for grant money from the state and from county commissioners in each county, said Ed Wilson, director of emergency medical services for the state health department.
The second law earmarks almost $100,000 to add defibrillators to most state parks, which draw 2 million campers per year. Only 11 of the 159 parks now have the devices.
“This is a bill that’s actually going to be able to save some lives across the state,” said Rep. Tom Anderson, a Republican who represents parts of Pinellas and Pasco counties.
Like Sobel, Anderson had tried to pass his bill in past years. He also sponsored a 2003 bill that led to a law that requires defibrillators in senior citizen centers, officials said.
Alone, the new defibrillators may only save a few lives. But advocates say the laws are an important step toward making the devices routinely available.
More than 200,000 Americans die each year of cardiac arrest. But up to 50,000 deaths — one in four — could be prevented if a defibrillator was immediately available, according to the American Red Cross.
Airlines have been required to be equipped with the devices since 1998. In 2004, American Airlines — the first U.S. carrier to equip its entire fleet — saved its 50th victim. The airline has achieved a 56 percent survival rate, compared to only 5 percent of people who survive cardiac arrest nationally.
Many states have passed laws requiring defibrillators in schools, public buildings or parks.
And such devices, also known as AEDs or automated external defibrillators, are dropping in price. Florida just bought 135 units for rural police and fire agencies around the state, plus schools and community centers, Wilson said. The state is part of a national purchasing deal and buys them for less than $1,100 each, Wilson said.
Two heavily used Southwest Florida parks — Lee County’s Lovers Key and Stump Pass Beach in Charlotte County — may be among the first to benefit from the new state parks law, said Anthony De Luise, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection.
“The most popular ones with the most visitors will obviously be at the top of the list,” De Luise said. About 100 parks will be equipped and the first unit could be in place in a few weeks, he said.
State Rep. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, a co-sponsor of the youth sports funding law and a former Sarasota School Board member, said she does not recall hearing from area sports groups asking for defibrillators.
“This is a case where technology is probably ahead of the game,” said Detert, who served on the board of the Venice Little League in the 1980s. “But I would suggest all the Little Leagues apply. I just think they’re not aware of it yet.”
Sarasota County officials said they will strongly support requests for funds.
“I would go along with it and I absolutely know the other commissioners will as well,” said Sarasota County Commissioner Nora Patterson. “It’s a no-brainer. The more we can have these devices out in the community, the more likely we are to have them when we need them.”
The Herald-Tribune found last year that more than half of the state’s high schools lacked heart defibrillators. Sobel said she doubts there has been much progress in schools getting the equipment.
Many state lawmakers said school districts are responsible for improving safety. But many local school officials, especially in small counties, say they can’t afford the costs.
“It’s very hard to change the schools,” Sobel said. “The mantra is everything is local control.”
But in the wake of Miulli’s death, the Florida High School Athletic Association last year made it mandatory for every school in the state to have defibrillators at all district, state and regional sports events.
The group, which regulates all Florida high school sports, also closed a decades-old loophole that put teen athletes at risk by allowing them to participate in intense training before medical exams. The FHSAA adopted a rule that requires athletes to undergo a physical exam before they take part in any activity.
Miulli was participating in a preseason run when he died from heart problems at Tampa’s Alonso High School last year. The Hillsborough County school district did not have a medical release form for the 17-year-old, who had a malformed heart. His parents later filed suit against the district.
What is it?
A defibrillator is a device used to correct a dangerously abnormal heart rhythm, usually ventricular fibrillation, or to restart the heart by depolarizing its electrical conduction system and delivering brief measured electrical shocks to the chest wall or the heart muscle itself.
A new state law will put defibrillators in many state parks. The number of visitors will determine which parks are in line to get them first, officials say.
Among Florida’s most highly attended parks:
- John Pennekamp Coral Reef, Florida Keys, 906,739.
- Bill Baggs Cape, Key Biscayne, 733,254.
- St. Andrews, Panama City, 732,367.
- Lovers Key, Fort Myers Beach, 675,000.
- Bahia Honda, Florida Keys, 474,124.
- Stump Pass Beach, Boca Grande, 394,998.
Florida state parks that already have a heart defibrillator:
- Little Talbot Island, Jacksonville.
- Anastasia, South St. Augustine.
- Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area, Flagler Beach.
- Sebastian Inlet, Melbourne Beach.
- Delnor-Wiggins Pass, Naples.
- Gasparilla Island, Boca Grande.
- Myakka River, Sarasota.
- Oscar Scherer, Osprey.
- Honeymoon Island, Dunedin.
- Caladesi Island, Dunedin.
- Egmont Key, St. Petersburg.
SOURCE: Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Attendance figures are for fiscal year 2004-05, the most recent year available.