Why is it that AED recall stories travel faster, farther, and wider than AED saves, deployments and success stories?

According to the AHA, PAD programs should be considered when “An EMS call–to-shock time interval of <5 minutes cannot be reliably achieved with conventional EMS services.” Are you aware of any EMS systems that can produce a “call-to-shock” time of less than 5 minutes? Remember, this is “call-to-shock” not call-to-arrival-to-the-scene or even call-to-applying pads…As such, I’d argue that it is virtually impossible for an EMS system to deliver defibrillation therapy less than 5 minutes after a call.

While there is no standard for EMS response times (and here), most EMS and fire agencies set goals ranging form 6 to 8 minutes. In San Francisco, for example, SF fire has a goal of responding to over 80% of their calls within 6 and 1/2 minutes. According to a report, “The city’s objectives also are less rigorous than standards set by the National Fire Protection Association, which call for arrival on the scene within 6 minutes after a 911 medical call is answered.” In SF, first responders arrive on scene in 8 minutes or less 90 percent of the time – falling short of the city’s goal by up to 1 1/2 minutes.

So, if (a) San Francisco’s goal is to arrive within 6  1/2 minutes, over 1 1/2 minutes LATER than the AHA goal for EMS systems and (b) San Francisco is not meeting its own goal the majority of the time, then (c) a comprehensive community-based PAD program is needed in San Francisco (and any other community with similar response rates).

Additionally, San Francisco, and all other communities do not measure their response times based on “call-to-shock” but, typically, call to arrival on scene. Thus, its likely even further delays exist beyond the “call-to-shock” timeframe, evidence of an even greater need for a comprehensive PAD program.

Cher Will of Christiansted, St Croix, US Virgin Islands, has donated another AED to a deserving facility in St Croix. Cher Will is the project director of the AED Fund at St Croix Foundation. Cher started the fund back in 2008 after using her own personal AED to save a life, and learning the local fire station did not have one.

The recipient of this AED is American Legion Post 85 in Christiansted. In light of Cher’s impressive work and commitment to making St. Croix a “heart safe” place to live and visit, Annuvia was pleased to donate a HeartSine Samaritan AED to her cause.

“AED Superstore called me and said Annuvia heard of my project and wanted to donate an AED,” she said. “I am so proud of our vets. They have given so much for us. We need to give back to our veterans.”

Through the AED Fund and Cher’s efforts, 35 AEDs have been donated to various services (police, fire, first responders, National Guard, Coast Guard), public parks and other public locations. According to Will, “we have AEDs in 81 locations and we have 111 AEDs.” The American Heart Association has reported that, per capita, St Croix has the most AEDs in the nation.

Unlike many state’s AED laws, the AED ownership requirements in the state of Minnesota could become MORE restrictive with the passing of HF1971 (read full text here). The Minnesota law would begin requiring AED unit registration with one of a handful of approved registry systems, provide updates related to change of ownership, add a new policies manual, encourage AED signage, amongst other requirements.

This proposed law, like most other AED legislation, begins with the noblest of intentions, however, I see a couple holes:

1. Registering AEDs is important, in fact its a feature of the Arch AED management system we built and use to oversee our customer’s programs. Requiring registration with one of the Bill’s systems, however, is problematic. These systems aren’t maintained in the same way Arch maintains its records. With these other systems, units are frequently found in diverse, inaccurate, locations (e.g. a random search very well could show a unit out of the desired search area). There aren’t human-based tools to approve records, so SPAM and unwanted records are included.
2. Who owns the AED unit data? Are salespeople going to start calling? Are government officials going to start coming by your office? It is very important that AED owners’ records remain private, especially in light of the fact that these are prescriptive medical devices. We feel that opting in to share this data or, at worst, having the ability to opt-out, is the fair balance; not mandating an opt-in ONLY provision.
3. The AED must be kept “in the location specified in the registration.” I understand the intent, as if the general public is going to rely on a unit, they need to know its there, but what happens when we add these types of new requirements? Are AED owners supposed to remember to inform the government authorities if they take their AED with them to a an off-site retreat or to a sporting event? If they don’t remember and there’s an incident, are they now more likely to be sued and held liable since they’d explicitly be violating a new provision of the law?
4. Proponents of this Bill cite that the increased regulations will help AED owners remember to replace their AED batteries and electrode pads as well as receive warning of AED recalls. Not so fast. Annuvia and other AED distributors can make such a claim, because, well, we sell AEDs…is the state of Minnesota picking up a new line of business? Also, where in the law are these items mentioned? They’re not.

Does adding more requirements encourage AED ownership or hurt it? That’s the primary question we need to ask and answer.

Check out Annuvia’s new AED store. You can buy what you need, when you need it. We hold some of the AED industry’s greatest quantities of AED electrode pads and batteries, new units, and CPR Supplies. Order today. Ships today. All supplies are fresh, maximizing the life of the products you purchase. All orders of $99 or more receive FREE UPS ground shipping!

Package your AED unit with our Arch medical direction AED management program so you’re never left with AEDs that are out of compliance. Arch can help you track all aspects of your program, from CPR training records to supply tracking, and even even EMS registration forms that might be required in your area.

Arch, unlike any other AED management system in the world, combines your detailed AED records with our unmatched e-commerce capabilities, offering you several novel features.

• We can place orders in advance, saving you time, money, and the stress of tracking orders.
• You pay when the order ships and we can set exactly when you’d like that to occur. Do you have several different AEDs with different expiration dates? If so, we can add your orders in today, and they’ll ship before your current supplies expire.
• Have a large program, with a lot of AEDs? We can ship one-off packages to any number of locations (remember, all orders of $99 or more get free ground shipping!)

If you’re interested in learning more about our products or services, just let us know. We’d love to chat, share more, and show you a demo of our services.

Happy New Year!

At Annuvia, we’re very excited to enter the New Year. With operations expanding across the United States, we’ve found great success with our group CPR classes and first aid training courses. Since all of our courses are taught by full-time healthcare providers with years of clinical experience, our clients continue offering wonderful training reviews and feedback.

We continue to expand our operations, offering high quality CPR in Los Angeles, Houston, New York and everywhere in between.

Thank you for your partnership and commitment to helping Annuvia train lay-people in life-saving skills.

One of the best ways to evaluate a CPR AED Training company before hiring them for your next training session is to read their reviews. The more reviews a company has and the better their rating, typically means the better your experience will be. Annuvia’s reviews are updated regularly. We share the honest truth, posting all ratings, the good and the bad, so you know just how we’re doing.

If you’re interested in learning more about our services, contact us today!

We’re excited to make an announcement of a pending announcement! Some big news is coming to the AED unit and AED medical direction/oversight industry. Stay tuned….!