For the last couple of months, I have had nay-sayers’ conversations rotating in the far recesses of my brain. Don’t know about you?
Why spend all that money from donors on AEDs? What’s the point? Heard, “Waste of money!” and “For what?!” and “They’ll just gather dust!”
But how do you put a price on a life?
And then today came the answer to all the nay-sayers’ questions and reservations! A life was saved! No doubt the first of many … and that’s why Coastal Kindness acquired these machines, and that’s why they’re available to anyone and everyone in time of need. And that’s why we hope many other lives can be saved …
But I shall let our good doctor tell you herself …
“A patient, early forties, with known cardiac history came in from work… Cold, clammy, nauseous. Unrecordable blood pressure or heart rate, but conscious. No chest pain. Headache +.
Heart rate 230 (we could see the patient’s neck and stomach pulsating). We did an ECG and had put up a drip in the meantime.
AED picked up a shockable rhythm, warned us to step back, and shocked the patient … who flew up into the air!
HR settled to 112 bpm. The patient felt immediately better. We left the AED attached for 20 minutes. Rhythm remained stable.
CPR was not required. We just needed to cardiovert the heart rate.
Very grateful to have Dr Pelser here who used to do a few of these a day in Canada! He helped keep us calm and reassured us all was well!
Transferred patient to PA Hospital for monitoring.
The patient is doing well …
Coastal Kindness … caring for you!
