Heart-Starting Devices for County Urged

Too many times, Simi Valley paramedic Sterling Johnson has arrived just a few minutes late to save a heart attack victim.

“I can’t tell you how many times, if we had gotten to them a little faster, we could have saved them,” said Johnson, who is also a police sergeant and instructor in cardiac resuscitation.

Now he and other advocates are launching a campaign to equip senior centers, government buildings and parks across Ventura County with small paddles that deliver heart-starting electrical shocks to cardiac patients, possibly saving dozens of lives each year.

A group appointed by Supervisor Judy Mikels is looking into the program. It is part of a nationwide push to increase access to the lifesaving equipment in public places, said Keith Jajko, an aide to Mikels.

“If we can equip and train people to assist heart attack patients right away, why not do it?,” Jajko said.

Among the questions the work group will answer is where the suitcase-size cardiac units should be placed and who will pay for them. Each unit costs about $3,000 and can be operated by anyone who receives a short training course.

Johnson hopes that the units will also eventually be placed in police cruisers, because officers often can get to a heart attack victim faster than paramedics or firefighters. The city of San Fernando recently equipped its police cars with the units, he said.

Federal grants are available to offset the costs, Johnson said. As the baby boom generation continues to age, it makes sense to anticipate a growing number of heart attacks, he said.

“Right now, because of budget constraints, police departments are not doing it,” Johnson said. “But in the future they are going to have to consider it.”

The push for public access is gaining momentum because there is evidence that administering shocks early on can save lives. More than 350,000 Americans fall victim to sudden cardiac arrest annually. The American Heart Assn. estimates that 100,000 lives could be saved if lifesaving equipment were within quick reach.

During a heart attack, the normally coordinated heartbeat suddenly becomes chaotic, a person loses consciousness, and death follows within a matter of minutes unless treatment is quickly administered.

The most effective treatment is defibrillation, the delivery of a powerful electric shock to the heart. Doctors say it’s like rebooting a computer--it allows a coordinated heart rhythm to continue.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is also an important skill in treating heart attack victims, American Heart Assn. officials say. Adding early defibrillation means that even more lives can be saved, they say.

Each year in Ventura County, about 100 people suffer the type of cardiac arrest that defibrillation can help, said Barbara Brodfuehrer, administrator in county Emergency Medical Services. Of those, one-third occur in public places such as at businesses, schools and jails, she said. They are the people who would be most helped by the equipment, Brodfuehrer said.

“It’s a very valuable little machine,” she said.

Officials from the county’s public health and emergency services departments are expected to report their findings to the Board of Supervisors in January.