The growing use of portable defibrillators is one of medicine's most promising ways of improving emergency first aid for people whose hearts suddenly stop beating. Electrodes attached to a victim's chest can deliver an electrical shock strong enough to jump-start a failing heart. The units aren't for all heart ailments, however. Defibrillators won't help people whose hearts fail because the blood supply is blocked. Defibrillators already are used by trained professionals in many Tristate police and fire departments.
Delta is among airlines training flight attendants to operate the units in flight.
Sudden cardiac arrest kills about 1,500 people in Greater Cincinnati each year. More than 95 percent of the 1,000 Americans who suffer from cardiac arrest each day die before reaching the hospital. In many cases, death occurs because life-saving defibrillators arrive on the scene too late, if at all, the Heart Association says. Defibrillation is most successful if used within three minutes of a cardiac arrest. In Cincinnati, emergency medical officials reach cardiac arrest patients about 8.5 minutes from the time 911 officials get the call.