Firefighters replacing old defibrillators in city
The city is looking at replacing all 80 of its public-access defibrillators and adding 15 more, to cover its arenas, community centres, libraries and other facilities. Windsor was the first municipality in Ontario to start a PAD program in 1999, providing easyto-use defibrillators in public and employee areas. On several occasions they’ve been lifesavers, according to Windsor Fire and Rescue Capt. Michael Mio, who coordinates the city ’s PAD program. “When people are experiencing medical emergencies, having a defib there, it takes six to eight minutes for fire and EMS (paramedics) to get to the patient’s side,” he said Tuesday. “If they can get a defibrillator to the patient in two to six minutes, there is a marked increase in survival rates.” The city’s first generation of defibrillators were replaced in 2007 with 50 new automated external defibrillators. A Heart and Stroke Foundation grant brought 22 more to city locations in 2009, followed by eight more purchases. So the majority of AEDs are more than eight years old, Mio’s report to council says, adding that the optimal lifecycle is eight years. There have been 30 cases since April 2016 in which a public defibrillator was used, resulting in seven saved lives. If used within two minutes of a cardiac arrest there’s a 90 per cent chance of survival. For every minute of delay, the survival rate drops by seven to 10 per cent. “This is that insurance policy you never want to use,” said Mio. The number of AEDs in public places has been rising steadily, to the point there are now 325 registered with a local database for Windsor and Essex County. The database is available to 911 operators so that when someone calls about a medical emergency, the bystander can be told if there’s an AED nearby.
Bruce Krauter, the chief of Essex-Windsor EMS, said the number of lives saved by AEDs has been steadily rising.
“That many used is a sign the public is becoming more and more aware and comfortable about using them.”
The 911 operators and EMS dispatchers can talk people through using one. But the AEDs can also talk you through.
“They tell you to expose the chest, they tell you where to put the pads, when to put the machine on, when to start CPR, when to stop, when to shock,” Krauter said. “It’s very simple to use.”
The city report recommends a particular brand, the Lifepak CR2, a latest-technology unit compatible with defibs used by firefighters and paramedics that will allow for “lifesaving technology to communicate between the emergency scene, EMS and the local hospitals.” The result will be an increased chance of survival from cardiac arrest, it says.
The cost is $2,124 per unit, less a $250 trade-in value, adding up to $149,960.