Boothbay region first responders will soon have a simple, yet powerful, tool against deaths from cardiac arrests. Boothbay Region Ambulance Service (BRAS) EMS Chief Dan Gardner has announced, 14 new Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) will be distributed to key community personnel to save lives during a victim’s most critical moments.
The Centers for Disease Control report that, every year, more than 350,000 people have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the U.S., and about 60% to 80% of them die before reaching the hospital. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), chances of survival diminish by 7 to 10% for each minute without CPR or defibrillation. AEDs are portable medical devices that can analyze a heart's rhythm and deliver an electrical shock, or defibrillation, to help the heart re-establish its functions.