By Cameron Macdonald
The Marin Independent Journal
MARIN COUNTY, Calif. — Marin County officials are aware of about 400 defibrillators in homes, offices, stores and schools that are ready for use in cardiac emergencies.
They’d like to know where the rest are.
“I believe that we have at least another 400 that are not registered out there,” said Chris Le Baudour, the county’s emergency medical services administrator.
| More: The history of AEDs: From scientific breakthrough to layperson use
Le Baudour’s staff started a “scavenger hunt” that asks the public to help them locate more “automated external defibrillators,” or AEDs, across Marin . The goal is to register their locations with the PulsePoint smartphone app, which alerts users to the closest device if a cardiac emergency is reported in their area.
Organizers also want to enable county dispatchers to quickly find the locations of AEDs in emergencies.
Le Baudour envisions Marin County, particularly the Highway 101 corridor, becoming a “four-minute community,” signifying the maximum amount of time to reach the nearest registered AED.
“What an impact that would have on cardiac arrest survival,” he said.
Christian Lombard, a county emergency medical services specialist, said 465 cardiac arrests were reported in Marin over the past 24 months, averaging about 20 cases a week.
“It affects a multitude of age ranges from teenagers playing sports — we heard about the kid on the basketball court who collapses and luckily there was an AED in the gym — all the way to our elderly folks,” he said.
Lombard said AEDs are designed to be used by people who are neither medical professionals nor trained in resuscitation skills.
“You grab it off the wall, you open it up, you turn it on and you follow the prompts step by step,” Lombard said. “It will walk you through exactly what to do.”
For the county’s scavenger hunt, participants can photograph AEDs and enter the images along with a completed submission form to the contest webpage at ems.marinhhs.org/aed-information.
The webpage also displays the locations of registered AEDs on a county map.
Scavenger hunt entries will be registered with the county’s public access defibrillator program. Participants who submit the most entries can win $100 gift cards.
Organizers are accepting submissions until Aug. 16 , when the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services will hold its 14th annual sidewalk cardiopulmonary resuscitation training events at 13 locations. Volunteers will offer lessons on skills such as hands-only CPR, stopping bleeding and administering Narcan during opioid overdoses.
Marin County Fire Department Chief Jason Weber said the staff encourages community members to join the hunt for defibrillators.
“These devices are vital during cardiac emergencies when every second matters,” he said. “This campaign not only strengthens our community’s resilience, but it also has the potential to save lives.”
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