Workplace Lifesavers
By Dana Knight, Indystar.com
July 4th, 2005
They're appearing on workplace walls across Indiana.
A critical tool that companies spend thousands of
dollars to buy and then hope they never have to use.
The life-saving automated external defibrillator,
a device once reserved for ambulances and emergency
rooms to save patients in cardiac arrest, is finding
a permanent home in factories, office buildings and
other workplaces.
Seventy-eight percent of workplaces surveyed by the
American College of Occupational and Environmental
Medicine said they had AEDs on site. While the study
was a small sampling, about 200 companies, it highlights
just how mainstream the devices are becoming.
In 1999, for example, the group estimates fewer than
5 percent of companies had defibrillators.
In Indianapolis, OneAmerica Financial Partners, law
firm Drewry Simmons Vornehm and big-box retailer Meijer
have the devices on site.
And, thankfully, so does international truck load
carrier Celadon Trucking Services.
It was at Celadon in January that employee Chris
Stiles collapsed in the break room as he suffered
from cardiac arrest.
Co-workers started yelling for help, and Josh Otto
rushed to the rescue, putting the company's defibrillator
to use.
"He had stopped breathing, we lost a pulse and
then he started turning blue," recalls Otto,
a mechanic, of the January incident. "We got
his shirt up and put the pads on and just gave a shock."
That shock and the aid from a team of co-workers
-- Amos Brooks and Rod Boiles, who administered cardiopulmonary
resuscitation, and Jeff Jones, who rushed to get the
AED -- saved Stiles' life. He was taken to the hospital,
where he underwent heart surgery.
Had Celadon not had an AED, the story could have
ended tragically for Stiles.
As many as 15 percent of workplace fatalities are
caused by cardiac arrest, according to the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration.
Survival issue
"Survival in the workplace is so questionable
without AEDs," said Beverly Turner, senior regional
manager for emergency cardiovascular care programs
at the American Heart Association. "If you're
in a high-rise, it can depend on the elevator speed.
If you're in a factory, how long does it take (medics)
to find the victim once they get there?"
Time is critical when it comes to cardiac arrest,
which is a sudden and unexpected loss of heart function.
And when it occurs somewhere other than a hospital,
survival rates are extremely low, ranging from 1 percent
to 5 percent.
Survival rates decrease 10 percent for every minute
defibrillation is delayed, according to the heart
association. After 10 minutes, resuscitation attempts
usually are futile.
"A lot of workplaces are getting AEDs,"
Turner said. "A lot more need to."
At Drewry Simmons Vornehm at Keystone at the Crossing,
the matter was close to Karen Murphy's heart.
The firm administrator witnessed her husband go into
cardiac arrest at her home two years ago. He survived
and Murphy pushed to install an AED at her company.
Ready for stress
"We're in a high-stress environment," said
Murphy. "Attorneys are stressed. The clients
are typically stressed when they come in."
In June the 45-person firm offered training to refresh
employees on how to use the AED, which has been on-site
about a year.
"It's such a small investment for getting a
fighting chance," Murphy said.
The average cost for one AED for the workplace today
ranges from $2,000 to $3,000 -- more affordable than
the $10,000 price tag when they came on the market
in 1979.
Started in 2000
Because of the previous cost and uncertainty, AEDs
didn't really make a notable workplace debut until
2000, said Larry Starr, executive director of the
Center for Organizational Dynamics at the University
of Pennsylvania who wrote the AED occupational guidelines
for ACOEM.
He attributes the recent increase to the law -- passed
in 2000 during the Clinton administration -- that
addressed AEDs in public settings and even required
they be placed in all federal buildings.
Companies often wonder whether they fit the profile
of a workplace that should have an AED.
"Who should not have life-saving equipment?"
asks Starr, pointing to a federal OSHA guideline,
which reads: "An employer has an obligation to
provide to all employees a safe and healthy workplace."
At most companies, the risks are present for cardiac
arrest. Employees who suffer from extreme stress,
high blood pressure, high cholesterol or are overweight
are all at risk.
"It becomes clear that a rational workplace
would say the potential for cardiac arrest is reasonable,"
he said.
In other words, all companies should consider adding
an AED -- on one condition.
"You should not have this device unless your
employees are properly trained," said Starr.
"If all you're going to do is buy the device
and hang it on the wall, don't buy the device."
That's where Linda Riley comes in. The owner of Westfield-based
CPR-Heartsaver spends her days training people on
CPR and AEDs -- and many of her sessions take place
in workplaces.
From dental offices to Lonestar Industries to law
firms and nonprofits, Riley has seen the dramatic
increase in companies investing in the medical devices.
Attitude change
"When we first started out (in 1996) if you
had said, 'Buy an AED and put it in the workplace,'
they would have looked at you cross-eyed," said
Riley. "That was something you saw on television."
Not anymore.
In Indianapolis, one of the more recent companies
to invest in AEDs is OneAmerica.
After participating in an AED trial conducted by
the Krannert Institute of Cardiology, the company
realized its benefits, said William Camm, vice president
and corporate medical director at OneAmerica.
Time factor
"It takes 10 to 15 minutes under the best of
circumstances for paramedics to get here," he
said. "And then they have to figure out where
in the building to go."
So it was a well-spent $100,000 investment for the
Downtown company to put devices on 16 floors as well
as train more than 100 employees on CPR and AEDs.
Fifty more employees will be trained within the next
few months.
"All that comes with a price tag," said
Camm. "But how do you put a price tag on life?" |
