At a press conference held Oct. 7 at the Tyler Rose Garden Center, Mayor Barbara Bass announced that East Texas Medical Center has donated six automated external defibrillators (AED) to the City of Tyler.
The defibrillators are valued at nearly $18,000 and will be placed in the following City facilities:
- The Rose Garden Center
- Harvey Hall
- Glass Recreation Center
- Lindsey Park Softball Concession Stand
- Tyler Public Library
- Faulkner Tennis Center
“Defibrillators have shown to greatly increase the likelihood of survival during a heart attack,” said Mayor Bass. “This donation by ETMC demonstrates their commitment to saving lives in our community.”
According to the American Heart Association, approximately 250,000 people die each year in the U.S. from sudden cardiac arrest. Most sudden cardiac arrests are due to abnormal heart rhythms called arrhythmias. Ventricular fibrillation (VF) is the most common arrhythmia that causes cardiac arrest; Defibrillation -- the technique of giving an electrical shock to the heart-- is the only known therapy for VF. In the event of a sudden cardiac arrest, every minute counts. Statistics show that survival rates are drastically increased when an AED is used within 3 to 5 minutes of a sudden cardiac arrest event. For every minute without a shock to the heart, the chance of survival decreases by 7 to 10 percent.
The City of Tyler currently has defibrillators in the Senior Center, City Hall and the Airport. The new locations were selected because of the high volume of visitors at these facilities. City staff will be trained on the use of the devices; however, they are considered to be very simple to operate.
"Since 2004, ETMC EMS has donated over 120 AED's to East Texas fire departments and county buildings and helped businesses purchase their own units at cost,” said Tony Myers, vice president/COO, East Texas Medical Center Emergency Medical Services. “Our goal is to build a cardiac safety net for East Texas with our Heart Safe AED Network.”
“Each year in Smith County, over 150 people will suffer sudden cardiac arrest. With every passing minute before defibrillation is administered, survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest decrease by about seven to 10 percent,” explained ETMC EMS Medical Director Dr. William Moore. “Although not everyone can be saved from sudden cardiac arrest, increased access to early defibrillation can help save thousands of lives a year.”