News & Blog

Canada is one-step closer to having life-saving AEDs delivered by drones to remote locations across the country. In a demonstration working with the Simcoe County Paramedic Services at Horseshoe Resort in Simcoe County Ontario a Volatus Aerospace drone showed the potential for rapid delivery of a MediQuest Automated External Defibrillator (AED) which could markedly improve survival for cardiac arrest patients.

Having a complete and dedicated AED Program provides the backbone of Life Saving Emergency Response By Chris Metcalfe, B.A. EMT-P, and Edward Wasser B.A., M.D. D.A.A.P.M. Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) are becoming quite common in workplaces and public places across North America.  The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada along with major US Medical Response organizations (Red Cross, and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine) all encourage the placement of AEDs where use can be provided within 3 minutes of a cardiac event.

We know that for every minute after a person’s heart stops from cardiac arrest there is a 10 percent drop in the survival rate, but did you know that AEDs used in conjunction with CPR feedback devices may further reduce survival rates, because CPR must be stopped to place the CPR feedback pads? The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada has recommended that AEDs are put in place to ensure that a life-saving shock can be administered within three minutes of a person’s heart stopping.  When this 3 minute drop-to-shock time is achieved, greater than 70% of patients survive.  Prior to the introduction of AEDs in public and work places, the survival rate was less than 5%.

Having an AED at your business or other facility is rapidly becoming the norm, but do you understand AED maintenance requirements? For many people this means hanging the AED on a wall after purchase and forgetting about it until it starts beeping, or lights start flashing a warning that something isn’t right with the AED.  But grabbing the AED in a life-threatening situation and finding that it doesn’t work can have devastating consequences.
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