Darrell Reid: It's time for government to make AEDs accessible for all of us
Credit to Author: Hardip Johal| Date: Sat, 29 Feb 2020 02:00:03 +0000
A dramatic scene played out during an NHL game on Feb. 11 at the Honda Center in Anaheim. St. Louis Blues defenceman Jay Bouwmeester collapsed on the bench after a late first-period shift. The 36-year-old Bouwmeester had a cardiac arrest — that is, his heart suddenly went into an abnormal rhythm. At that point, without immediate CPR and use of an automated external defibrillator (or AED), he would have very quickly died.
That Jay Bouwmeester is alive today is a true testament to the life-saving capacity of CPR combined with use of an AED. It also highlights why AEDs should be much more widely available and easily accessible than they are now.
Every year in Canada, there are 35,000 cardiac arrests outside of hospitals. Cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime, and often without warning. Every 15 minutes or so, somebody’s heart suddenly, unexpectedly stops beating. It can happen during a hockey game at a local arena or at the gym. But a cardiac arrest could just as easily be at school, at work, at home, in a café, while shopping or just walking down the street.
It’s important to note that a cardiac arrest is not the same as a heart attack, which can happen when one or more coronary arteries get blocked. Cardiac arrests take place when the heart rhythm goes out of sync and then stops beating. Cardiac arrest is an electrical problem, while a heart attack is a plumbing problem.
Bouwmeester joins the company of Rich Peverley and Jiri Fischer, other NHL players who also had a cardiac arrest during a game and were saved not only by the fast action of teammates and medical staff but especially because an AED was close by and used at the scene.
Most others are not so lucky — 90 per cent of people who have a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital don’t make it. And many of those who do may have significant brain tissue injury due to prolonged lack of oxygen. When a cardiac arrest happens, every minute without CPR or an AED lowers the chance of survival.
It doesn’t have to be this way. As a life-long first responder, I know that paramedics and firefighters have saved the lives of many people in cardiac arrest. First responders all know CPR and most first responder vehicles carry an AED, but we may not make it to the scene in time to save that life. First responders know that quick bystander intervention whenever a cardiac arrest happens in a public place (and even at home) significantly improves our chances of saving those lives.
But for bystanders to intervene and start life-saving procedures, they need the right tools — they need to know how to do CPR and an AED must be close by, readily available and accessible. Fortunately for hockey players, that is now the case because the NHL requires AEDs to be at all games and practices. As for the rest of us, we should be asking our governments to require AEDs in all public places and do more to ensure that everyone knows CPR and knows how to respond to an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Here in B.C., Heart and Stroke worked with the provincial and federal governments to place hundreds of AEDs in public places. Despite this, access to AEDs remains fragmented.
That’s why Heart and Stroke is calling on government to mandate AEDs in public places, that they be maintained and registered with 9-1-1 dispatch so that bystanders can be directed to the nearest device and that liability be clarified so people aren’t afraid to use one. All school-aged students should also learn CPR as a basic part of the curriculum.
Jay Bouwmeester has another lease on life thanks to the quick actions of medical staff and an AED. He gets to return home to his family and friends neurologically intact. By working together, we can make this happen for more people.
By working together, we can improve the survival rate from cardiac arrest. Any one of us may be unexpectedly called upon to save a life. The question is will we have the right tools to do so.
Darrell Reid is the chair of Heart and Stroke’s British Columbia and Yukon provincial advisory board and the chief of Vancouver Fire and Rescue.