Two weeks ago a friend of mine was playing doubles at East Hills tennis club and one of his partners fell face first with a heart attack, SCA (Sudden Cardiac arrest). They did CPR, got the club defibrillator and zapped him within five minutes. The E unit got there in 11 minutes, but it probably would have been too late. The guy is doing fine.

According to the literature, for the best chance of survival, a defibrillator should be applied within five minutes. Here are the time vs. survival rates:

½% with CPR only in the first minute
0% with CPR only after first minute
70% with defibrillator in 2-3 minutes
40% with defibrillator in 4 minutes
20% with defibrillator in 8 minutes
1% with defibrillator in 20 minutes

Less than 5% of SCA (Sudden Cardiac Arrest) victims survive. This is largely because defibrillators don’t reach them in time. Nearly 80% of all SCA’s occur at home. At home you may have a chance of an E-unit getting to you in five minutes, but on a boat there is absolutely no chance of anyone from the outside, with the proper equipment, getting to the victim in time. In other words you get SCA on a boat and you are dead.

CPR, by the way, only helps to extend the time a couple of minutes if at all. CPR will not restore the heart to proper operation. That’s not to say, don’t start CPR and do continue to do it until help arrives because without proper equipment you can’t be sure the heart has stopped.

Modern defibrillators cost around $1,000.00 and are VERY simple to use. You push the “start button” and the machine talks you through the procedure, which is as follows:

1. Stick the pads on the victim’s chest as per the pictures on the pads.
2. The defibrillator check the victims heart to make sure defibrillation is in order.
3. The voice says, “Step back from the victim”, the victim is shocked.
4. The voice says, “Continue CPR” while the unit recharges itself. Then it continues shocking until the heart rhythm is restored or the battery goes dead.

You do need to take a six-hour course, which goes into all sorts of life saving procedures including the use of the defibrillator. All of this is also most useful if your emergency is on a boat or anywhere else.

Really, the only thing you need to ask yourself is “Is my life or my wife and kids or my friends life worth $1,000.00 and a little training time?” Of course, make your significant other also take the course or it won’t do you much good.

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