CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY IN GARDEN GROVE

Christmas came early this year for three popular meeting and cultural hot spots in Garden Grove; the Festival Amphitheatre, the Gem Theatre and Kiwanisland, and the Garden Grove Rotary Club wants everyone to know that due to their pre-season gift, it means there is now an automatic external defibrillator available for medical emergencies in each of those locations.

The Garden Grove Rotary Club, through a matching grant provided by District 5320, has acquired three life saving Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) which can be used to revive victims of cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation.

The Rotarians’ goal, said Scott Weimer, the program’s committee chair, is to save lives.  “It’s purely a public service,” Weimer says, “and that’s what the Rotary Club does. We’re hoping to set a standard. And because we’re business people, we are hoping to reach out to our business contacts in the community to give this program the support it needs and deserves.”

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is usually caused by an electrical malfunction of the heart called ventricular fibrillation: a quivering of the heart muscle that makes it unable to pump blood. Once that circulation stops, a person quickly loses consciousness and the ability to breathe. The chance of a successful resuscitation drops rapidly with each passing minute, and after 10 minutes in cardiac arrest, a person’s chance of survival is only about 2 percent.

Though certain medical conditions increase the risk of sudden cardiac arrest, most people with increased risk are totally unaware that they have it.  It strikes about 1,000 people a day in the United States, from young High School athletes on the playing or practice field to the elderly.  The only effective treatment for sudden cardiac arrest is defibrillation, or an electric shock to the heart.  Electric current discharged through the chest can interrupt ventricular fibrillation and allow the heart’s normal rhythm to resume.  With rapid defibrillation within 1-3 minutes the survival rate can be up to 90%.  Without it the survival rate is 0.

The AED defibrillator, said physician and Garden Grove Rotarian and retired physician Bill Annan, is able to detect the difference between a normal sinus and a life threatening cardiac rhythm before going into operation.

“The use of the Automated External Defibrillator does not require the user to be able to read EKGs or diagnose ventricular fibrillation,” Annan remarks. “The AED gives verbal instructions to the user and is able to read the heart rhythm.  If the victim is not in ventricular fibrillation it will not deliver a shock.  Every minute spent waiting for paramedics lowers the chance of survival by approximately 10%.  Therefore, in order to increase survival rates it is necessary for AEDs to be available in the community and have people trained and ready to use them.”

“Our plan is to continue to place as many of these units into operation as our ongoing funding will allow,” said Weimer.  “The Rotary Club will provide the AED and the recipient organization maintains it. The Public Access to Defibrillators program also helped with the installation of the units and having people trained in both CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and AED (automated external defibrillation).”

Another positive factor to installing several defibrillators around town, said Weimer, is that anyone with AED training, employed at a particular establishment or not, can use it, providing that one is available.

“But it’s not enough just to have it there,” warned Weimer. “These are emergency situations, and there’s a lot of stress placed on individuals when someone goes down.  For the lifesaving program to be effective, you have to have people trained who at a moment’s notice will grab that device off the wall and not have to start reading.  Our goal is to make Garden Grove one of the safest cities in America to suffer a cardiac arrest in.”

At the AED Institute, President Pamela Foster has been most supportive, Weimer said, working with key Rotarians to implement the project.  “The AED program is designed to help citizens help others,” says Foster.  “Installing the AEDs in public places is the first step, educating the public about CPR and how to use the AEDs is the second step, and the third is to trust that informed bystanders will step forward to take the necessary actions to save another person’s life in an emergency.”

“I think this is going to be a standard in California in the future, and in many states it already is” Weimer said. “Unfortunately local governments so far are not responding to the need, so we at Rotary are doing what we can to reduce any barriers, such as cost, but the citizens are the ones who have to decide, ultimately, if this is worth it.  The thing people have to realize is that it could be you, your child, spouse, mother, father, or your friend. Cardiac arrest doesn't discriminate. It could be anybody. So, if you've got these units available in as many places as possible, then there's a much better chance that someone you know will be saved."

Your contribution can help make the difference in a life or death situation.  Please join Rotary in this important effort now.  For additional information regarding AED’s or to donate to the campaign, please contact Rotary’s AED campaign chair, Scott Weimer at 714-534-0992.