By Adam Townsend
The Orange County Register
FULLERTON — Jared Marchbanks knows the six automatic defibrillators he watched St. Jude Medical Center present to four community organizations can help save lives.
When he went into sudden cardiac arrest last fall, an automatic defibrillator and the fast actions of two of his athletic trainers at Fullerton College kept him alive until paramedics rushed him to St. Jude.
According to the American Heart Association, each year, sudden cardiac arrest takes as many as 460,000 lives in the United States. It strikes without warning the young, old, healthy and sick, according to a release from the hospital.
The hospital presented the Boys & Girls Club of Buena Park, Fullerton College, Rosary High School and the Yorba Linda-Placentia Family YMCA with AEDs at a luncheon in Fullerton last week.
Present at the luncheon were Marchbanks, 20, an athlete at Fullerton College, and his family.
Also present was Enrique Christopherson, a sales manager from Cardiac Science, the company that sells the automated external defibrillators, who demonstrated how the devices St. Jude handed out can be used with little training.
A recorded voice guides the first-aid giver through the steps of using the defibrillator. The pads, once stuck to the victim’s chest, sense the heartbeat, whether the patient has any implanted heart mechanisms and whether the caregiver is still touching the body.
Christopherson said it was impossible to accidentally shock someone - because the machine senses the heart activity, it won’t administer a shock to a regularly-beating heart. Also, the machine not only senses whether there’s an implant, but it will also senses whether the implant is functioning and works in tandem with the internal device.
Likewise, it will not shock a patient if it senses that another person is touching the body, avoiding the danger of accidental shock to the rescuer.
“With every passing minute, the chance of surviving sudden cardiac arrest decreases,” said Lee Penrose, St. Jude president and CEO in a release. “An AED is easy to use and can mean the difference between life and death. Increased access to early defibrillation can help save lives, and we are pleased to present these new AEDs to local organizations with the sincere hope that they never have to be used.”
Copyright 2010 Orange County Register