Public Access Defibrillator program helps save lives Published April 13, 2016 By Staff Sgt. Maria Bowman 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- The 375th Medical Group offers Heart Saver Automated External Defibrillator classes for personnel who want to learn how to take care of a person who goes into cardiac arrest. The Public Access Defibrillator program ensures that AEDs are placed throughout the community. An AED is a device with a computer that offers step-by-step voice instructions to help the user through the defibrillation process. The device is attached to a person's chest with pads, and it senses the heart's rhythm during cardiac arrest and, in some cases, delivers an electric shock to get the heart beating again. At Scott Air Force Base, there are currently 138 AED devices, which, if used properly, can save the life of someone within Team Scott. "Defibrillation within three minutes of sudden cardiac arrest increases the chances of survival to 70 percent, while shocking someone within one minute of collapse raises the survival rate to 90 percent," said Col. Colleen Frohling, 375th Medical Group chief nurse. "Calling 911 is necessary, but the wait for first responders may take too long. A victim's chance of survival decreases 7-10 percent for every passing minute without effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation. After 10 minutes, very few resuscitation attempts are successful. With AEDs, a rescuer can quickly and easily defibrillate a cardiac victim and potentially save a life." According to the American Heart Association, nearly 383,000 out of hospital sudden cardiac arrests occur annually. Frohling said the AED device is designed to be used by a bystander with minimal training. "In the past the ability to defibrillate was held only in the hands of trained emergency medical personnel and this could be a long response time based on location," Frohling said. "The use of AEDs is the latest in the line of tools developed to combat sudden death in a public setting." Annually, 16 percent of cardiac arrests occurred in public places. Accordingly, AEDs are placed around the base where they would be most beneficial, due to the facility population and foot traffic. Currently, AEDs can be found in the Exchange, the Commissary, golf course, library, restaurants, fitness centers and childcare facilities. Clyde Nobles, PAD coordinator and class instructor, teaches his students how to use an AED device correctly, so survival of cardiac arrest increases. "AEDs were created for laypersons," Nobles said. "The user of the AED is guided through this process with either audible prompts, visual prompts or both. These devices have been shown to be extremely safe and have neither delivered any inappropriate shocks to patients nor caused harm to users or bystanders. They are highly accurate in detecting life-threatening heart rhythms and are effective in delivering shock therapy." Senior Airman Sheldon Crawford, 375th Security Forces Squadron Combat Arms instructor, attended the class, which he said helped prepare him for dealing with this kind of situation in his job. "The class was an eye-opener to different scenarios that we could encounter," Crawford said. "Being security forces, you never know when you will appear on a scene, and you are the first responder and will have to render CPR and tend to that person's medical needs." Nobles said that bystanders should not be afraid to conduct basic life support skills on persons who have gone into cardiac arrest. He said these procedures can keep a person from getting worse, while waiting for medical professionals to arrive. "People think that no matter what they do, the person is still going to die," Nobles said. "Think of a person standing on the side of a 16-story building; if they take another step, they are going to fall off and die. Our job with BLS is to hold that individual, keep them on the edge, so they don't go any farther, until the paramedics get there and take that person to a medical facility." The 375th MDG holds BSL and CPR classes every Wednesday at the clinic.