SPEEDWAY, Ind. (August 14, 2015) – All schools in Speedway are equipped with new AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators) this school year and the athletic director carries one himself to all events.
AEDs are portable medical devices that automatically detect cardiac arrhythmias of Sudden Cardiac Arrest patients. They produce a shock that stops the heart and allows it to return to a normal rhythm, a process called defibrillation.
The superintendent was made aware the district’s AEDs were outdated after a retired fire department captain checked the devices.
“They purchased the Powerheart G5 Cardiac Science AED,” said Shane Arnell. “Fantastic AED. It just came out on the market in May of this year. A lot of good things about it and they just purchased it for their school system, upgrading their AEDs for the high school, the middle school and each of the elementary schools. As well as the athletic director carries one when he goes to the sporting events. A really good thing (and) Speedway should be recognized for (it) because they are the first school in the Indianapolis area to purchase the G5 AED. We really want to recognize the Speedway school system for doing that.”
Arnell and his wife opened Public Safety Training & Supply after he retired from the fire department.
“What we do is we go to companies that we know have a need for that kind of thing whether it’s schools, companies, businesses, whatever it is, we see what their situation is, we offer a free AED assessment and then of course based on that assessment, if they have expired batteries, expired AEDs, if their warranties (are) out of service, any issues that come up, we report that back to them and we are able to help them with whatever they need.”
Arnell says there are a lot of misconceptions and fears about using an AED.
“If people are not aware of the AED or haven’t been trained on the AED, they’re often not confident or they just don’t want to use it because they’re afraid they’ll make a mistake or mess up,” he said. “The thing to remember is that most AEDs are automated external defibrillators and they’re set up in a manner that they won’t shock someone unless they actually require the shock.”
“If I’m lying there and I’m breathing and someone tries to shock me, it will not let the AED shock me. So that’s one nice thing to know about the AEDs is that they’re pretty friendly. They all pretty much work the same way. If you can drive one brand of a car, you can drive another brand of a car, and if you can work one defibrillator, you can work different brands of defibrillators.”
If you want your business or school AEDs checked or want to learn about safety training, click here for information.
“There is a need. There are a lot of corporations, a lot of businesses that don’t know about AEDs or the training that’s out there. It seems like they’re always calling fire departments and looking for that kind of thing. But with today’s budgets, fire departments have a hard time trying to keep up with civilian training. They have enough trouble just to keep the budgets up just to train the firemen and the paramedics and the EMTs. So seeing that need, we’re trying to have solutions for that.”
“You’ll see AEDs in places like Lucas Oil Stadium, any place of assembly, churches, schools, fitness centers. So the nice thing about defibrillators is you don’t technically have to be able to afford one. If you’re in a place of assembly, there’s a good chance one will be there and you can always pull it out and use it.”