FARMINGTON – NorthStar is pleased to announce that it has helped place Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) with two local physician practices. Franklin Health Wilton Family Practice and Franklin Health Livermore Falls Family Practice are the most recent AEDs made available in the NorthStar coverage area.
When faced with a sudden cardiac arrest, AEDs are simple to use and will “prompt” a user through CPR, will determine if the person can be helped with the AED, and will “shock” a patient if appropriate. This is one element in the chain of survival that has helped heart attack patients go on to recover and lead full lives.
According to NorthStar director, David Robie, at last count there are at least 51 AEDs now in service in the region. This includes 22 in local fire, police and Franklin County sheriff’s departments, one on each of NorthStar’s 11 ambulances and another 18 in community locations such as physician practices, schools, and recreation areas.
To find out where the AEDs in greater Franklin County are located, go to NorthStar’s Web site at www.fchn.org/NorthStar, under the “community services” section.
“NorthStar encourages everyone to take a CPR class and to become familiar with AEDs,” said Robie. “They could literally save your or a loved one’s life.”
Please visit the SCAA Web site at www.suddencardiacarrest.org for additional information. Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) claims over 325,000 lives annually or over 1,000 per day. SCA victims usually collapse suddenly without warning and become unconscious. If not treated immediately it will lead to death. SCA is not the same as a heart attack and is usually not preceded by chest pain or any of the normal heart attack symptoms. On average only 6 percent of SCA victims survive. Research and data shows that if CPR and AEDs are utilized within the first few minutes this percentage increases to well over 20 percent and an additional 68,000 lives could be saved annually. AEDs are important even in locations with close EMS systems because in most cases with best case scenarios it will take local EMS providers greater than 4 minutes to respond to an SCA event.
