Bystander CPR and AED Plus Help Save Ottawa Fitness Center Member

Ottawa AED Plus

Feb. 1, 2011 February is Heart Month, and we're kicking it off with a success story about public access defibrillation. A 57-year-old sudden cardiac arrest victim at the Goodlife Fitness Centre in Ottawa was saved by the quick actions of a personal trainer who used CPR and an automated external defibrillator (AED) to treat the man. Ottawa paramedics helped by phone until EMTs arrived at the scene. The gym added defibrillators only three months ago after other members had collapsed.

The average survival rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year is 7%.1 If an AED is used by a bystander, the rate increase to 38%.2   

1 American Heart Association. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics – 2009 Update. Dallas, Texas: American Heart Association, 2009.
2 Weisfeldt ML, Sitlani CM, Ornato JP, et al., on behalf of the ROC Investigators. J Am Coll Cardiol 2010;55:1713-1720.

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