Celebrating airport heart defibrillators, two years of saving lives

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) has dramatically improved the survival rate for victims who experience Sudden Cardiac Arrest in our state’s airport system.  It’s been two years since automated external defibrillators (AED) were installed at the airports and since then 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 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 in partnership with the American Heart Association at four different airport locations through the rest of the year,” said 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,” said 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 a 100 percent survival rate has been attained every time 911 was called, CPR initiated, and an AED was utilized.

For a complete list of the “Heartsaver” training courses or for information on formalized family training courses, please visit the American Heart Association website at americanheart.org/cpr.