November 18, 1997
Contact: Louise Snider, 619/594-5204
Do your viewers know about this machine that could save thousands of lives every year? SDSU prof can explain and demo
The hottest topic in emergency care for heart attack victims is the use of the AED machine. Featured recently on "20/20" and in the current issue of "Reader’s Digest" (see enclosed), the Automatic External Defibrillator is a small, portable, computerized machine that delivers a shock to restore a normal heart rhythm to someone in cardiac arrest. (Think of a scaled-down, simplified version of equipment you’ve seen on shows like "ER" where someone is zapped back to normal.)
Barbara Riegel, associate professor of nursing at San Diego State University, presented a paper on AED’s at the recent meeting (Nov. 9-12) of the American Heart Association. She is a strong advocate for their use. "They are far more effective than CPR," says Riegel.
Since time is critical in cardiac- arrest cases, Riegel and other advocates of AED’s, including the American Heart Association, believe thousands of lives could be saved every year by placing AED’s with first-response teams (firefighters, police), and at stadiums, concert halls, hotels, and other public sites. American Airlines has already begun placing them on their airplanes.
The machines have been designed with safety checks and user prompts, so that even a layperson could use them--they will not deliver an electric jolt unless they detect it is needed to restore a normal heartbeat.
Riegel co-chaired a national research team studying AED’s and is now co-primary investigator (with Dr. Myron Weisfeldt of the Columbia Medical Center) of a $10 million clinical trial scheduled to begin shortly at sites across all of North America.
To schedule an interview with Dr. Riegel, call her at 594-2772 (office) or
620-3150 (pager).