Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Are the AED that are installed ever used? How often?
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Old 07-23-2021, 07:23 AM
Dilligas Dilligas is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill14564 View Post
In some cases they will be faster and in others they will not. They are purchased for the cases where they will be faster.

Why in the world would you lock the AED? You want this to be available in an instant to whoever happens to be there. Locking them up and waiting for a key makes them far less useful. EDIT: Because these have been stolen in the past and because it seems Florida law requires AED and CPR training before someone is allowed to use one.

Will the EMT slow their response? Would the EMT like to see his name on the front page of the paper in the article about a death that occurred when the response was slowed?

The well-meaning amateurs don't need to diagnose anything. The "A" in AED takes care of diagnosing whether a shock is necessary.
They are under lock and key because in this world they are valuable and could be stolen (not necessarily by TV residents). There are usually 2 or more depending on coverage range. In our area, response time by AED crew is less than 2 minutes, and EMT is 4-6 minutes. If the AED is not needed, it will tell the user, however, CPR is begun immediately upon arrival (nearby responder will go directly to the patient while one of the other responders who pass the AED stands gets the unit). Our neighbor area of about 130 homes has 12-15 trained responders (depending on time of year) each with key to lock. We had about 80-90% who donated and new move-ins add to that. TV AED groups and systems are being studied and copied nation wide. It is well worth it…..as is insurance….hoping you never need the service.