Sites to Evaluate Use of Defibrillators
The San Clemente Senior Center, Community Center and Ole Hanson Beach Club have been chosen to take part in a national two-year study to determine whether automatic external defibrillators or AEDs are more effective than cardiopulmonary resuscitation at saving lives.
About 10 employees and volunteers at each site will be trained in using the defibrillators, which are electronic devices used to restart a heart. Each location will also be supplied with an AED for use in emergencies, said Karen Prestia, a spokeswoman at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center of Mission Viejo, which is working with the county Emergency Medical Services Department to conduct the study. Also sponsoring the study are the National Institutes of Health and American Heart Assn.
Forty county locations have been chosen for the study. Some sites will train people in CPR; others will use the defibrillators. At the end of two years, data will be compiled to see if the AEDs increase the likelihood of a person surviving cardiac arrest.
Each year, about 300,000 people nationwide die from cardiac arrest, and about 25% of those incidents occur in a public place. Without the rapid delivery of defibrillation or CPR, the patient has little chance of survival, Prestia said. The AEDs are designed for use by people outside the health-care industry.
