2024-02-10 10:49:00
Just three weeks ago in Bandol, a 75-year-old woman was saved from drowning and then revived using the automatic external defibrillator (AED) of a nearby casino. It’s not just a slogan, in the event of cardiac arrest, a defibrillator can save your life. As long as witnesses don’t hesitate to use it! “It’s within everyone’s reach.” explains Dr François Debaisieux.
Emergency doctor at Sainte Musse hospital in Toulon and at Hyères hospital, he regrets “a delay in the deployment of AEDs in France and in the popularization of their use”. However, there is no shortage of convincing arguments to make everyone a potential rescuer. Starting with this very first truth: “The AED helps restart the heart in the event of cardiac arrest. If there are no witnesses, no intervention, there is a death. There’s nothing to lose by trying!”
Use it, even without training
“Everyone, including those who have never seen one, can use an automatic external defibrillator, insists Dr. Debaisieux. It is of course interesting to have attended a demonstration, but it is not essential. Under no circumstances should you hesitate to use it. The witness is the smallest link in the emergency chain but it is he who makes it strong. After him comes the first aid worker, the emergency doctor, then the resuscitator. They can do extraordinary things in the hospital. But if the witness does not act, the chain is not effective. The survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is 5%. It is more than doubled if a witness takes care of the victim with a defibrillator.”he further specifies.
The priority: alert and massage
The priority is to alert the emergency services by dialing 15, then to massage and defibrillate. “It is important to be able to massage the heart while waiting for a defibrillator to arrive. This does not necessarily make the heart restart, but the blood circulates while waiting for help and this can limit the following-effects. If we do not know If you don’t do the massage, you go straight to the defibrillator.”
Using an AED is simple
“The device has only one button: just press it and follow the voice guide, explains the doctor. He will ask you to apply the electrodes to the victim’s chest. A diagram drawn on each of them indicates where to place it.
You just have to follow simple instructions:The victim’s chest must be dry and it is best – if possible – to shave it if it is very hairy.”.
Once the electrodes are placed, the device will announce: “do not touch the patient, analysis in progress”. The next message may be: “shock not recommended, continue massage”. Or: “shock recommended, do not touch the patient”.
“Then, in all cases, if we know how to do it, we must resume cardiac massage,” specifies the emergency doctor.
Useful applications for locating AED and rescuers
“It is important to know where the AEDs are closest to your home or workplace. 90% of cardiac arrests occur at home”continues Dr. Debaisieux.
There is an official site (Géo’DAE) and numerous applications, such as Staying Alive, which allow you to locate AEDs, and others, such as the Good Samaritan, which allow emergency services to locate and mobilize rescuers who are close to the victim and who are likely to intervene more quickly than emergency services. “It works very well, I have already been called three times. Sometimes early intervention is enough to restart the heart.”
Train yourself in first aid procedures
The AED does not detract from the benefit of first aid training. “If someone acts immediately and in addition to the use of the AED, cardiac massage is performed, the impact is major in terms of survival, recovery and following-effects.”, confirms the emergency doctor. The more time passes, the fewer the chances of survival and the more serious the following-effects will be if the person survives.
The number
46.000. This is the number of cardiac arrests each year in France.
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