DPH works to get AEDs in schools

The Department of Public Health has opened up a dialogue with the American Health and Safety Training Center in Northern California, which could assist the CNMI in obtaining automatic external defibrillators for the school system.

According to Medical Affairs director Dr. Edward Cornette, the Center has donated AEDs to schools in California and has showed an interest in assisting the CNMI obtain AEDs for schools.

Cornette said that, although the islands’ geographical location prevents the CNMI from availing of the Center’s other services, AHST and DPH “will make an attempt to overcome some obstacles in this regard.”

He said that a more detailed discussion with Robert Trapp of the AHST will commence in the next 10 days or so.

“It will be based on who donates the items as well as the particular school to have five CPR/AED-trained individuals. We need to determine if that is for each individual school or the system as a whole,” Cornette said.

He said the placement of AEDs in schools is “just a measure to attempt to address the need in the community.”

He said that sudden deaths during sports activities are not something new to school sports environment.

The Center is also a full service distributor of Philips AED products, providing AED units, training, medical direction, and event review.

According to its website, Emergency Medical Services may not respond fast enough to save someone in cardiac arrest.

“In fact, the national average response time is 10-12 minutes, so even the best EMS responders could have difficulty arriving in time. Besides traffic, consider the time needed to make it to a patient’s side at a ball game or in a crowded church for example,” the AHST stated.

AEDs are believed to offer a practical way to save more lives because they are designed for use by nearly anyone. Widespread deployment of AEDs gives sudden cardiac arrest victims the best chance of survival.

Recently, the CNMI Chapter of the American Red Cross joined with the Marianas Visitors Authority in distributing six first aid kits to popular dive sites in the CNMI.

The first aid kits contain an emergency bottled oxygen, an automatic external defibrillator, and a first aid kit.

There are currently a total of 10 AED units in the CNMI.