Airport Heart Defibrillators Save Lives
Through an innovative public-private partnership, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has dramatically improved the survival rate for victims who experience Sudden Cardiac Arrest in the state's airport system.
A nurse demonstrates the CPR chest compression technique and use of the defibrillator during a defibrillator training session at Honolulu International Airport.
In the two years since automated external defibrillators (AED) were installed at airports statewide, five people have been saved.
"We are proud to say this is the first public access program in the state and one of the largest in the country," said Brian Sekiguchi, deputy director of the Airports Division.
The DOT installed 100 defibrillators in ten of its airports statewide. As part of the defibrillator program, over 1,700 airport employees have taken part in the American Heart Association "Heartsaver" courses offered at the various airports.
"The 'Heartsaver' courses are integral to the program's success. We are offering these courses to the public at four different airport locations through the rest of the year," says Sekiguchi. "You never know when this training may help to save someone's life."
The American Heart Association reports that each year more than 350,000 people in the United States experience Sudden Cardiac Arrest. The most effective treatment is defibrillation. With immediate and effective care, many can survive this event and live a long and healthy life.
"Without early CPR and AED, national survival rates for cardiac arrest are around 5 percent and as low as 1 percent," says Pamela Foster, RN, Program Director for the Airports Public Access to Defibrillation Program. "The success of Operation Stay'N Alive has been from the efforts and support of many who believed that together we could beat these odds."
Within the first two years of the program, the survival rate has escalated to 63 percent and 100 percent survival rate has been attained every time 911 was called, CPR initiated, and an AED was utilized. Five people have been saved since automated external defibrillators were installed in our state’s airports two years ago.
One survivor, Larry Ledwith from Portland, Oregon, credited the defibrillator with saving his life.
"The state of Hawai`i providing that defibrillator saved my life," he said in an interview with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin from his hospital bed last July.
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For more information, visit the Department of Transportation website.
