AED Reclassification – When Near Perfect is Not Enough for the FDA

The FDA is proposing to reclassify AEDs as Class III medical devices. This change will require manufacturers to go through a much more time consuming and costly regulatory process before their AEDs can be sold. Why? According to the agency’s proposed rule, the primary purpose of reclassification… Read More

OK, Gov. LePage, Perhaps we shouldn't tell the schools that they need to have fire extinguishers, either?

Veto of Bill on CPR Training in Schools Holds 06/07/2013 10:27 AM ET The bill sought to train high school students in life-saving techniques including CPR and the use of automatic external defibrillators. AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) _ Gov. Paul LePage's veto of a bill calling for cardiopulmonary… Read More

How to have a better chance of surviving a cardiac arrest.

Make a list of the people most likely to be present when / if you have a cardiac arrest. Make sure they get trained in CPR. Make sure those people know how they are going to get you from the recliner onto the floor...or out of bed and onto the floor. If they are strong enough to pick you up and… Read More

Will Voices Crying in the Wilderness Be Heard?

More than 1,000 people have signed a Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation petition urging the Food and Drug Administration not to reclassify AEDs as high-risk class III devices. Here are some of their comments: “Had an AED been available to my son Louis, who passed away from sudden cardiac arrest, he… Read More

Calfornia Supreme Court could change the face of AED adoption by California retailers

(CN) - The California Supreme Court should provide guidance on demands that all retailers there need defibrillators for customer emergencies, the 9th Circuit said Tuesday. Mary Ann Verdugo experienced sudden cardiac arrest in 2008 while shopping at a Target in Pico Rivera, Calif. It took paramedics… Read More

PulsePoint App, which helps people get lifesaving CPR, is coming to Los Angeles

Smartphones, already used to alert us of such pressing matters as sports scores and new Facebook posts, could soon help save lives in L.A. The Los Angeles Fire Department will soon begin using an application called PulsePoint, which sends messages to people's cellphones when someone is having a… Read More

EMS Professionals: Join the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Network Today!

You work every day to save lives threatened by sudden cardiac arrest. Now, there is an online community dedicated exclusively to sudden cardiac arrest, where emergency medical services providers and other community advocates can connect with their peers, share experiences and best practices, and… Read More

Missing the Forest for the Trees

Articles such as "The Loophole That Keeps Precarious Medical Devices in Use" and “AEDs in the Workplace, Benefit or Burden,”  which raise concerns about the safety of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) without recognizing their overarching life-saving value, create confusion and are not in… Read More

Ask Congress to Restore Funding for the Rural and Community AED Program

In his FY 2014 budget submitted to Congress on April 10th, President Obama zeroed out funding for the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Rural and Community Access to Emergency Devices Program—the AED  Program. Now it is up to Congress to restore funding for this life-saving… Read More

That's the way it's supposed to work.

Eight year-old boy is struck in chest, suffers a cardiac arrest,while playing baseball. Bystanders help, EMS arrives, one shock brings him back. That's the way it's supposed to work. Get AED's everywhere people compete in or practice for athletic events - including cheer leading! Seriously. Bob