By Heather May
The Salt Lake Tribune
Copyright 2007 The Salt Lake Tribune
All Rights Reserved
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Ian Lankford knows all too well the reasons to learn CPR.
The 17-year-old had a friend who died of a brain hemorrhage after nearly drowning. The friend didn’t receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation until 10 minutes after he was pulled from a pond because no one there knew what to do.
That’s why Lankford, a junior at East High School in Salt Lake City, is attending a class on a recent day that will teach him not only CPR but also how to use a defibrillator that shocks a heart into resuming its normal rhythm.
“Nobody else was able to help him,” Lankford recalled of his friend. “I just want to help.”
Research shows that trained bystanders who use automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and CPR together while waiting for the paramedics to arrive are more effective at saving victims of sudden cardiac arrest than when using CPR alone.
Lankford was part of a group of 20 people at East who were trained on how to take charge in an emergency. Start a Heart, a Utah-based nonprofit that promotes CPR and AED training, installed an AED in the school and conducted the training. It also has money - the AED and instruction costs $2,680 each - to place the devices in four more schools in rural school districts.
Susan Lewis, Start a Heart’s director, wants to see the tools in every school. Other parents across the country, whose children were either saved by an AED or died without access to it, are calling for the same thing. Ten states have legislation supporting AEDs in high schools. Utah isn’t one of them, according to Lewis’ research.
No other school in Salt Lake County has registered with the state as having an AED.
Lewis said her 49-year-old family member with no history of heart problems was saved after going into cardiac arrest in an airport. A bystander used an AED. “I know full well how wonderful these machines are and how they can save lives,” she said.
Weighing about 3 pounds, the devices are user-friendly. Two adhesive pads are placed on the person’s bare chest. The machine analyzes whether a shock is needed and says when to push the “shock” button.
AEDs are needed for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), which is different from a heart attack. In SCA, the heart stops beating; it is usually caused by abnormal heart rhythms, most often ventricular fibrillation, which is when the heart’s electrical impulses become chaotic and the heart stops pumping blood effectively, according to the American Red Cross Web site. An AED is critical in helping restart the heart.
Someone suffering from sudden cardiac arrest will lose consciousness and may stop breathing.
More than 200,000 Americans die of SCA a year. The American Red Cross estimates 50,000 could be saved by using AEDs.
But bystanders need to know how to use AEDs and perform CPR.
At East, Lewis started by teaching CPR. New guidelines call for 30 chest compressions for every two rescue breaths. Each participant had a mannequin to practice on. Like an aerobics instructor, Lewis walked the room and barked out orders.
“Use your shoulders, ladies. Straight down. Harder and deeper.”
Stressing that they can’t wait for medical help to arrive when someone is in trouble - without oxygen, the brain starts dying in five to seven minutes, she said - Lewis said CPR must become second nature to the class.
The group also used the AEDs. The mannequins were set out throughout the school and the group practiced drills in which they had to grab the AED from the main office and get back to the “patient” within 90 seconds.
With nearly 2,000 students at East, participants anticipate they will eventually need to use their new AED.
“It’s important if you have a student go down or a person go down, you need to get to them as quickly as possible,” said assistant principal Mary Lane Grisley.
AEDs can be found in airports, malls and offices. The Utah Department of Health distributed up to 500 of them in rural areas - which have more critical need of them since the urban Wasatch Front has easier access to paramedics.
“They are truly valuable,” said Don Wood, who oversees the AED program at the health department.
6