Heartsavers in the city: Rotary AED project takes bloom
By Katie Friedman, Monticello Times.com
May 31st, 2005
A potentially life-saving project launched by Monticello
Rotarians in cooperation with the Monticello-Big Lake
Community Hospital has caught the interest of area
business owners, and across town, heart-starting defibrillators
are popping up like spring flowers.
At the Rotary’s invitation, eight area businesses
and one local public facility have agreed to install
defibrillators–used to interrupt cases of sudden
cardiac arrest–on their premises, and to train
their employees in the equipment’s proper use.
The community service project, announced as a Monticello
Rotary Club goal last August, coincided with Rotary
Inter-national’s centennial celebration, as
well as the Monticello club’s 50th anniversary.
“We tried to think of the top 10 places where
they would help the most people,” said Rotary
President Jim Agosto. “At the beginning, we
were thinking a couple of them would agree to it.
But then it kind of grew, and we started to get contacted
by other companies, too.”
The Rotarians have now installed defibrillators at
the Monticello Theatre, Silver Springs Golf Club,
Syntregy Fitness Centers (in Monticello, Buffalo and
Zimmerman), the Bondhus Corporation, Electro Industries,
UMC, Cub Foods and the hockey arena.
“Other parties are interested,” Agosto
said. “We’re just seeing where it will
go from here.”
A signature project
Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is usually caused by
an electrical malfunction of the heart known as ventricular
fibrillation, a quivering of the heart muscle that
renders it unable to pump blood. Once that circulation
stops, a person quickly loses consciousness and the
ability to breathe. The success of resuscitation drops
by about 10 percent with each passing minute. After
10 minutes in cardiac arrest, a person’s survival
chance is about two percent.
SCA strikes randomly, though certain medical conditions
can increase the risk. In the United States, it affects
about 1,000 people every day, and worldwide, as many
as a million people each year. The events are most
often fatal.
Defibrillation–an electric shock to the heart–is
the only effective treatment for SCA. Electric current
can interrupt ventricular fibrillation, allowing the
heart’s normal rhythm to resume.
Sudden cardiac arrest is not a heart attack, which
occurs when a blood vessel feeding the heart is blocked
by plaque or a blood clot while the heart continues
to beat. A defibrillator is not made to correct this
problem, and will not go into operation if a heartbeat
is detected.
The Rotary’s defibrillator project Agosto said,
is unique, in that the Rotarians are not giving the
defibrillators away, but partnering with local businesses
to have the equipment installed and employees trained.
Working with the Cardiac Science, a manufacturer of
defibrillators, the club was able to purchase defibrillators
at a reduced cost. And that cost has either been carried
or shared, on a mutual agreement, by each individual
participant.
Initially, the project was launched with seed money
from the club’s Rotary District.
“But it’s our baby now,” said Agosto.
“Our board is looking at this as a signature
project for our club. The vision is to continue on,
adding to the companies we’re working with now.”
An ongoing mission
The Rotary is working to promote the idea in locations
that will benefit the most people, he said, and is
also looking to work with locations in town that already
have defibrillators on site, with an offer of including
employees in the project’s training sessions
in CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and AED (automated
external defibrillation.
The American Red Cross and the American Heart Association
recommend full training in a hands-on, four-hour course
initially, supported by subsequent refresher courses.
In cooperation with the Rotarians’ vision, the
Monticello-Big Lake Hospital has provided initial
technical assistance to participants, as well as AED/CPR
training and refresher courses, and is maintaining
a certification database.
“That the hospital is working with the Rotarians
on this is really exciting to me,” Agosto, who
serves on the hospital’s board of directors,
said. “We have a common goal, and while they’re
good at the medical stuff, we’re good at the
business side of it. We each use our different circles
of influence. I like that model.”
Businesses who participate in the project agree to
place the equipment conspicuously with posted notices
of its availability, commit to its maintenance, ensure
that an adequate number of employees are trained in
its usage with annual refresher courses and to submit
an annual review of the equipment and staff training
levels.
As the Rotarians’ defibrillator project continues
to ripple through Monticello, the club is looking
to new horizons for its mission, with plans to approach
business owners in nearby communities, as funds allow.
Giving credit to the united efforts of many who helped
to get the defibrillator project up and running–
including MBLCH executive director Barb Schwien-tek
and Rotarians Dick Van Allen and Steve Johnson–Agosto,
a local legal eagle, expressed his gratification at
the mission’s initial success.
“I’m pleasantly surprised,” he
said. “Who knows? It might even save a lawyer
someday. That can’t be all bad.” |
