Automated External Defibrillators have been used in emergencies for years to deliver a shock to someone having a cardiac event to restore a regular rhythm.
Now, the Fairfax County Police Department is starting a pilot program that will add 40 defibrillators to patrol cars across the department.
The devices will be divided among the eight county police stations, giving each five AEDs for each shift.
“We’ve been trying to push an AED program for quite some time,” said officer Eric Acevedo, who also serves as the lead special operations paramedic for the department. “It’s not super common in the Northern Virginia area.”
The goal, Acevedo said, is to provide an AED to someone having a cardiac event as quickly as possible. Because patrol cars are out in the community already, they can generally arrive faster than Fire and EMS personnel.
In a , Fairfax County police said all officers who work with the devices will receive special training on their use and have already received detailed training in Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) as a requirement for graduation from the training academy.
Acevedo said other programs in the police department, where emergency medical equipment has been provided to police, have been successful and he is optimistic about the AED program.
“Where we started with having tactical emergency casualty care and giving officers tourniquets and chest-seals and having them respond to accidents or incidents where trauma care was provided, we saw great success in those programs and improving survivability,” he said.
An AED is essential in reviving someone having a cardiac emergency.
“Your survivability rate post-10 minutes going into sudden cardiac arrest without the arrival of CPR and an AED is less than 10% for the most part,” Acevedo said. “With an AED and an officer arriving within three minutes of someone in cardiac arrest, we’re talking about a survivability potential within 70-80%.”
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