Posted: 12/15/2008 5:33:58 PM EDT
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Does anyone have one of these? If so what kind?. Heart Disease runs in my family and am worried about my mom and my aunt. I figure it would be a good idea to have one because where I live EMS response time varies (2-20 min), even a very minor SHTF situation (such a blizzard) could tie up EMS for awhile. |
| Kind of depends on what kind of heart disease runs in your family. AEDs are made to restart a heart that in fibulation (sp?). It does nothing for clogged arteries and many other heart problems. Might be a good idea to contact your family doctor and the local Red Cross. If an AED is suitable for your family, I recommend you and and as many other family members as possible take the couse, if you haven't already. Many times the victim will stop breathing too. Applying the AED and doing CPR for any period of will get one person very tired, very fast. Good luck. |
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HeartStart AED, not sure of the exact model. Dept. issue and I've used it successfully a few times (and unsuccessfully a few dozen). Absolutely idiot-proof and simple to use, almost indestructible. Pricey, though. (If I were looking to buy one, I would check into whether my or moms or aunts insurance co would subsidize the purchase price or give a rate discount for it. I don't know if they do that-it just seems to be a common sense thing)
However, if you're willing to make that kind of investment, you might also want to consider taking an EMT or CFR course. A defib covers only one narrow range of potential medical emergencies. A bit of good training greatly increases the number of situations where you could make a difference. Just my $.02 |
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Got this from an equipment supply website. Source AED's strength the chain of survival. They can restore a normal heart rhythm in sudden cardiac arrest victims. Also, new portable models allow more people to respond to a medical emergency where defibrillation is required. When a person suffers a sudden cardiac arrest, for each minute that passes without defibrillation, their chance of survival decreases by 7-10 percent. AED's save lives. Matches what I was taught in First Responder training. The survival rate for CPR alone is pretty poor. Ask your Dr. if your families condition is would respond to Defibrilation. My AED story. I was the leader of our first responder crew at a sizable plant in GA. We had an employee present with typical heart attack symptoms. At that point we had no AED. The bus took 40 minutes to arrive at the plant. Had to get one from another county over. Employee died. After that, I purchased an AED and had Life Flight training for the first responder crew. Seems like we used it every two weeks, mostly for monitoring, we ran strips for the medics when they arrived. Nobody else died on my watch. I like AED's and will add one to my personal kit when funds permit. |
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I would love one as well. As a FF & FR I have one on the trucks, but station is 2-3 minutes away. I could have one at my home in 3-4 minutes while the wife(ALS) and me(BLS) try to deal with the patient.
Airways,BVM,epi,are all in my personal SHTF bag. I only carry what I am allowed to use on per protocol in the FD jump kit. My kit is a different story. 
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