As Published In: Central Newsmagazine

June 11, 2008

 

At the June 5 Kirkwood City Council meeting, representatives of the American Red Cross St. Louis Area Chapter and SSM St. Joseph Hospital of Kirkwood presented the city with an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).

 

The AED unit will sit in the entryway of City Hall to serve as the official launch of the Kirkwood Heart Safe Community Program, which will give area businesses the tools to respond quickly to sudden cardiac arrests.

 

"Nationally, the response time for paramedics averages at 10 minutes," said Tim Davidson, spokesperson for the St. Louis Area Chapter of the Red Cross. "After four minutes without oxygen, brain damage can occur. These minutes are the difference between life and death."

 

The use of an AED unit greatly increases the survival chances of someone who suffers from cardiac arrest. The easy-to-use unit sends a shock to the heart in order to start a heart rhythm. It is to be used in combination with CPR.

 

Davidson hopes that businesses, schools, churches and other public facilities will place an AED unit at their location. The Red Cross has placed 258 AEDs throughout Missouri and Illinois in the past three years.

 

For more information on the program, visit redcrossstl.org.