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Posted by Leslie Roberts on 21st Jan 2015
Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) save lives. There isn’t a national statistic yet on how many lives are saved each year, but Altra Medical has 63 people who are alive today with AEDs we’ve sold. In 2008 American Airlines celebrated 76 people being saved in the first 10 years they first put AEDs on their airplanes, with an overall survival rate of 63%. Chicago O’Hare has a survival rate of 64% when their AEDs have been used. Some casinos report numbers as high as 70%.
When bystanders provide CPR and use an AED before EMS arrives, 40% of the victims survive. Contrast that with the national average survival of less than 10%.
The newest statistics reported over 326,000 people died of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in 2013 in the US. Less than 30% of the time will someone do CPR on a victim, which does help buy time. However, CPR alone cannot put the heart back in normal rhythm. Only a defibrillator can. Since you lose 7 to 10% chance of surviving each minute you are in SCA, less than 10% survive. Only 8.3% survive neurologically intact because EMS simply cannot get to the victim and shock them in the four to six minutes before brain damage occurs.
Read More Ten Reasons Why You Need an AED