On Jan. 30, 2007, Chief David Kaplan of the Melville (N.Y.) Volunteer Fire Department (MVFD) received a letter from Dr. David Kugler, chief medical officer of the department. The subject referred to a cardiac arrest 3 days earlier. The letter read:
Dear Chief Kaplan: Today, it is with much enthusiasm that I report the saving of a life by our rescue squad. On Jan. 27, 2007, our agency was called via 911 to the aid of a 75-year-old man in cardiac arrest. With the aid of yourself, Assistant Chiefs Harrison and Warren, Rescue Captain Ferrara, EMTs Triolo, Ripple and Sukoff, this patient received exemplary care to the point that he regained a pulse and is alive today.
Why is this letter remarkable? Approximately 4 years earlier, several members of the MVFD discussed placing automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) in the possession of qualified members. In June 2005, Chief Kaplan presented this concept to the Board of Fire Commissioners. In an effort to update our equipment, his plan was to purchase monitor defibrillators as well as member AEDs to accomplish standardization and enhanced public access.
The project would include the purchase of five advanced life support defibrillators/monitors plus 15 wall-mounted units in each fire station and in all our fire and rescue vehicles. The balance would be distributed to our first responders, who would keep the AEDs in their personal vehicles at all times. Should a cardiac incident arise, those responders would have the AEDs at their disposal to render treatment and hopefully save lives.
The Board of Fire Commissioners accepted the idea. However, funding it on a predetermined budget was a matter of concern. As commissioner, I was appointed project coordinator. Our initial direction was to fund the program by securing donations through private foundations and grants. This was met with limited success. Later, we adopted a plan to seek local corporate donations, while simultaneously applying for state and FEMA grants. Since then, we have received more than $200,000 from state and FEMA grants and a generous donation from the members of the MVFD. With these funds, the MVFD was able to purchase 77 defibrillators.
As project coordinator, I’ve been asked several times, “What is the projected goal of the program?” Our goals are threefold:
- Place AEDs in the possession of our qualified members;
- Prolong life for victims of cardiac arrest. Survival rates drop 7—10 percent with every minute that passes before a patient receives treatment. It’s imperative to provide immediate life support. Members with an AED in their possession can immediately render that lifesaving support; and
- Expand this program to other departments and squads. We’re so confident it will be successful in Melville that we’re encouraging as many departments as possible to follow in our footsteps.
Placing AEDs on apparatus and giving them to first responders for their personal possession may seem like a simple thing in the grander scheme of emergency response. But we believe it will have a huge impact. As our medical director says, “Not since the advent of penicillin has there been a device or therapy that has the potential to positively impact so many lives and save so many lives. The AED is to the cardiac world what penicillin was to the infectious disease world when it was discovered.”