[Kenswing]

Originally Posted by Blueblaze

It seems a scam to me. When we moved in, the guy down the street with the AED in his yard showed up immediately to collect his $100 and we never heard from him again.

Three years later, my wife had an apparent heart attack (which turned out to be a blood cot). Even though the fire department is less two blocks away and the AED guy half a block, it took 20 minutes for an ambulance to get there (and not the one from the nearby fire station). Nobody ever showed up with an AED. Thank God it wasn't a real heart attack!

When the EMT's moved her to the Ambulance, the clot moved to her brain and caused a stroke. They recommended HCA Ocala as the best stroke center. It took them half an hour to get there. It took me 45 minutes. In the emergency room, I asked the receptionist to buzz me in the door. She glared at me and ordered me to sit down and wait my turn. A few minutes later, a face appeared in the window, saw me there and called my name. I found my wife somewhat more coherent than when last I'd seen her, but still stroking out. A guy came up to me and asked permission to administer a clot buster. I said "they didn't do that in the ambulance"? He said no, they were worried about a brain bleed. I asked if they'd scanned for a bleed. They said yes, no bleed , and they could see the clot. I asked them, "Then what the hell are you waiting for!". He said they needed my permission (to save my wife's life!). So I signed a paper and they gave her the clot buster. The effect was almost immediate. And amazingly, she somehow survived an hour or more with a clot in her brain, with no apparent damage today. I credit divine intervention. It certainly had nothing to do with Florida healthcare. WORST I HAVE EVER SEEN in all my 71 years!

But I'm sure that guy with the AED in his yard, paid for by his neighbors, will have a much different story to report, on the day of his heart attack

I’m sorry to hear of your wife’s experience but an AED would have done her no good. An AED is only used for sudden cardiac arrest. The neighborhood AED program wouldn’t have even been notified of your wife’s condition unless you told the dispatcher that your wife wasn’t breathing. The D in AED stands for defibrillator. It will only deliver a shock to stop ventricular fibrillation.