Contact: Ellen Bank or Heather Murphy

843.792.2626 or 843.792-3621

Jan. 28, 2003

MUSC Donates Defibrillators to County

The MUSC Heart Center will present 10 automatic external defibrillators (AED) to Charleston County Emergency Services Department.

The device is used to restart the heart of people struck with sudden cardiac arrest. These victims’ best hope is having their hearts restarted within four minutes of being stricken.

The devices will be placed in Charleston County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad vehicles that circulate throughout the county. These vehicles can be radio dispatched and often can reach a cardiac arrest
victim before the ambulance.

Sudden cardiac arrest strikes about 600 people a day in the United States and as many as a million people a year worldwide. It can strike anyone, anywhere, anytime, although some medical conditions can
increase a person’s risk of suffering cardiac arrest. Sudden cardiac arrest is usually caused by an electrical
malfunction of the heart called ventricular fibrillation, an ineffective quivering of the heart muscle that makes it unable to pump blood through the body. Once the blood stops circulating, a person quickly loses
consciousness and the ability to breathe. Defibrillation is the only definitive treatment.

“With every passing minute before defibrillation is administered, survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest decrease by about 7 – 10 percent,” said Michael R. Gold, M.D., Ph.D., director of cardiology at MUSC. “Although not everyone can be saved from sudden cardiac arrest, increased access to early defibrillation can help save thousands of lives a year. “

Unlike the models of defibrillators intended for use by health care professionals, the automatic external defibrillators do not require extensive medical knowledge to understand or operate. The expertise needed to analyze the heart’s electrical function is programmed into the device, enabling nonmedical professionals to respond to cardiac emergencies.

“While the MUSC Heart Center has the most sophisticated cardiac equipment and highly trained personnel, our expertise will not help sudden cardiac arrest victims unless they are resuscitated in the
field,” said Gold. “When we were given these devices by Physio-Control Medtronic we had a wonderful opportunity to make them available to our local emergency responders and therefore expand services to the citizens of Charleston County.”