AED Brands Blog

What is the difference between ALS & BLS?

 

There are two types of life support: advanced and basic.

 

Providing basic life support (BLS) is the first basic steps in stabilizing a patient. The main goal of BLS is to help the patient during an emergency until EMS arrives for further assessment. BLS is performed without drugs and only includes cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). BLS is intended for lay responders and includes topics such as:

 

• Performing CPR
• Using an AED
• Performing the Heimlich Maneuver

 

When advanced life support (ALS) is provided it involves medical knowledge and highly professional techniques. ALS is performed by initiating IV access, reading and deciphering electrocardiograms, and administering emergency drugs. ALS is intended for EMS and hospitals only and includes topics such as:

 

• Effective airway control
• ALS pharmacology terms and their meaning
• Respiratory issues and cardiac arrest management
• Acute coronary syndromes and stroke management
• Serving as a leader and team member in a resuscitation team

 

Most people will use basic life support because it takes years of training to perform advanced life support. Learn how to save someone’s life in an emergency, by signing up for a class through our website!

Keep Your Kids Safe on the 4th of July With These 5 Safety Must Do’s

The 4^th of July is a time of fun for family and friends. But we all know that fun can turn into tragedy if we don’t keep our kids safe. Here are some basic safety tips that can help you enjoy a safe day.

 

1. Sparklers – Kids love sparklers! But lots of kids are injured every year because they get burned. If you’re going to let your kids hold sparklers, supervise them at all times and keep a bucket of water on hand to extinguish the sparkler. Also, it’s best to go over some rules and stick to them:

• Hold the sparkler at arm’s length and do not run with it
• Wear long sleeves
• Don’t touch the sparkler hot end
• Don’t put the sparkler near anyone’s face, including their own
• Put the sparkler in the bucket of water immediately when instructed

 

2. Fireworks – Fireworks should be set off by adults only, in an open field, away from homes, trees and people. Since fire can occur in an instant, a hose and fire extinguisher should be kept on hand.

 

3. Grill Safety – do not leave your grill unattended. Keep all children away from the grill – especially watch those toddlers who want to grab and Keep your grill at least 10’ away from your house and other combustible materials. Don’t grill in the garage or under any overhang that could ignite. Clean and inspect your grill prior to use for leaky hoses.

 

4. First Aid Kit –Make sure your home first aid kit is fully stocked. If you are traveling, make sure you have a travel first aid kit with you. It’s important to have the proper first aid basics on hand at all times, and especially during the 4^th of July when accidents are more frequent.

 

5. Water Safety Rules – The 4^th of July can be a fun time for swimming and boating. Whether it’s your backyard pool, public pool, private pool, or lake, make sure safe water practices are followed. Young children should be supervised at all times and life jackets worn when required. The “Buddy System” should be used when older children are swimming or attending festivities without parents.

 

Stay safe and have a Happy 4^th of July!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is Your Heart Secretly Hiding A Potential Killer Called LQTS?

 

Long QT Syndrome (LQTS) is not always fatal, but it certainly can be. That’s why LQTS is also called “Sudden Death Syndrome” and that’s why you need to be aware of its signs and symptoms to make sure it does not get misdiagnosed as a harmless fainting spell. LQTS is a disorder of the heart’s electrical function. It can cause sudden and dangerous heart arrhythmias (abnormal heart beat or rhythm) and can result in immediate death. Every three days a young athlete collapses and dies in the United States due to an undetected heart problem. It is estimated that 3,000 to 4,000 children and young adults die each year due to LQTS.  How do you get this hidden heart disorder? The most common reasons for LQTS are:

 

• Some people are born with LQTS and will have it their entire life. The deadly arrhythmia can be triggered by

1. Emotional stress
2. Exercise (swimming/running)
3. Extreme emotions
4. Slow heart rate while sleeping

 

• Some people develop or acquire LQTS during their lifetime.

1. Over 50 medicines have been found to cause LQTS
2. Severe eating disorders, vomiting and diarrhea may cause LQTS

 

What are the signs of LQTS?

People with this condition may not have symptoms or may have sporadic symptoms such as rapid heart rate or sensitivity to caffeine. Sometimes the symptoms become dangerous, such as fainting and seizures. But still, the condition can go undiagnosed. Some people will have symptoms when they are born. About 50% of people that inherit the disease will have some symptom by the time they reach 12-years old.

If you or a family member experience any abnormal heart symptoms, or know of a history of LQTS in your family, you should call your doctor for a check-up.

 

 

What should your AED maintenance checklist look like?

You just bought an AED… now what? Regardless of what type of AED you purchased you will need to perform monthly maintenance checks on your AED. Do you know what to be checking for? If so, great! If not, no problem! We are here to help you maintain your AED to manufacturer’s standards! AEDs are so easy to use now that anyone can perform maintenance checks! So you can stop wasting money by having a company come out and do it. There are only a few things you need to check for each month:

 

1. Check the Self-Check Indicator –

Depending on what type of AED you have you will see an indicator check mark, OK, or green light. This will be an indicator that the AED is running self-check tests.

 

 

2. Check that the AED has not been tampered with –

Make sure the pads are connected to the device and have not been opened. You will also want to check that the battery has not been removed from the AED, or replaced with an old battery.

 

3. Check expiration date of pads and battery –

Keep a record of your AED equipment as well as the installation dates, expiration dates, and inspection dates. This can be easily managed by the help of a program we offer, called Accutrack.

 

If you are doing these three things you will know that you have an AED that is maintained to the manufacturers standards. If you still have questions about the maintenance of your AED, you can always leave us a comment, give us a call at 800-580-1375, or email us at customerservice@aedbrands.com

8 Heart Healthy Foods you should be eating this Summer

Do you question what foods are best during the Summer when reaching in the pantry for a snack or preparing dinner for the family?  These eight foods are a great choice for your heart health!

 

 

Avocados – Provides heart-healthy monounsaturated fat.

 

Tomatoes – Good source of lycopene, an antioxidant that helps protect cells from damage and also may help lower bad cholesterol.

 

Oily Fish (Salmon, Tuna, or Herring) – The American Heart Association recommends having oily fish twice a week, which lowers the risk for fatal heart disease

 

Dark Leafy Greens – Provides fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

 

Fresh Fruit – Lowers blood pressure, as well as keeps you hydrated on hot summer days.

 

Dark Chocolate – Good source of flavonol, which relaxes arteries and increases blood flow causing lower blood pressure. However, it must contain 70% cocoa.

 

Nuts (Walnuts, Pistachios, and Almonds) – Provides Omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, Vitamin E, and folate, all of which promote healthy hearts.

 

Veggies (Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Brussel Sprouts) – Broccoli contains calcium which is reduces blood pressure. Cauliflower is high in fiber, and contains allicin, which lowers the risk of heart attacks and reduce cholesterol. Brussel Sprouts reduce inflammation in the cardiovascular system and improve blood vessel health.

 

 

Sources:

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/summers-bounty-top-5-healthy-foods-for-your-heart/

https://www.prevention.com/health/a20502183/best-foods-for-heart-health/

 

Find out more on heart healthy food by doing your own research and checking your facts. Enjoy your Summer and may your heart always be healthy!

The one thing you should know BEFORE leaving for your summer vacation

 

It’s a parent’s nightmare. You’re at a beautiful beach resort watching your kids swimming in the pool when suddenly one of them is missing. That’s exactly what happened in March at the Oceanfront Avista Resort in Myrtle Beach. A 12-year old was swimming in the resort’s beautiful Lazy River pool when his leg was suddenly pulled and trapped in a suction pipe with a missing drain cover at the bottom of the pool. He was pulled out and needed CPR immediately to save his life.

 

Hiking the trail of the Spruce Flats Falls area in the Smokey Mountains, a man suddenly collapsed. Once again, immediate CPR was necessary for survival until an automated defibrillator was brought and used to restore a normal heart rhythm.

 

Deadly accidents can happen anywhere at any time. But the chance of survival, especially while on vacation, may depend on you knowing how to give life-saving CPR. Whether you are on the beach, camping in the mountains, or visiting a recreation park, emergency response teams could take more than 20 minutes to arrive to help. Your family’s life might depend on you knowing what to do.

 

If you have a cardiac emergency while on vacation and you do nothing but wait for EMS to arrive, the victim has about a 5% chance of survival. If you do immediate CPR until EMS arrives, you can increase their chance of survival to 25 to 35%!

 

This is National CPR and AED Awareness Week. Before you go on vacation, learn how to perform CPR. Better yet….have your entire family take a class so they can help you during an emergency. You can schedule a CPR training class with us, by clicking here!

5 Reasons Your AED is Beeping

Did your AED suddenly go from sitting quietly in its case to making a loud chirping or beeping sound?

Here are the 5 things you need to do if your AED is making noise

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Check the date on your pads. If your pads have expired, they may be too dry to deliver a shock when applied to a victim’s chest. Some AEDs will test and sense the pads are expired and/or they are not usable. The AED will start beeping as a warning that new pads are needed

 

• Check the date on your battery. All AED batteries need to be replaced, whether or not the unit is used for a rescue. You should always record the date you insert your battery in your machine and note when the battery will need to be replaced. After running their self-tests and detecting a low battery, some AEDs will beep to let you know a new battery is needed.

 

• Check to make sure your pads are connected. Your AED should always be kept with the pads plugged into the machine. This saves time during the rescue by allowing the rescuer to quickly open the pads and apply them to the patient’s chest. Some AEDs will warn you that you do not have your pads plugged into the AED by beeping.

 

• Check the environment and storage temperature of the AED. Every AED manual will designate what temperature range is the best to store your AED. Although AEDs are capable of working during a rescue in extreme temperatures, long term storage of the AED should be within the temperatures advised by the manual. Some AEDs will start beeping when they are stored in temperatures outside the recommendations.

 

• Call the manufacturer to diagnose internal issues. If you confirm that the pads are plugged in and have not expired and the battery does not need replacing, your AED could have an internal circuitry issue causing it to send the audible chirping noise. If you experience this issue, you will need to call the manufacturer of your AED so they can diagnose the problem.

 

If you still have questions about your AED, you can always leave us a comment, give us a call at 800-580-1375, or email us at customerservice@aedbrands.com

 

If defibrillation is so important, why should I do CPR?

 

A person has just collapsed and they are not breathing. You see an AED on the wall near the victim, but you don’t know whether to begin with CPR or place the AED on the victim’s chest. It is true that CPR provides some circulation of oxygen-rich blood to the victim’s heart and brain, and this circulation does indeed delay both brain death and the death of heart muscle. However, if you have an AED you want to apply the pads to the victim and turn it on immediately! You can put your trust in an AED to tell you when to provide CPR or shock the victim.

 

CPR is thought to make the heart more likely to respond to defibrillation. If the bystanders at the scene are able to provide CPR, the victim’s chances of survival will be significantly increased. The longer the body goes without circulation, the lower the chance of survival. By performing CPR, you are able to help the person’s blood keep circulating until an ambulance arrives and more advanced tools can be used. We know that the chance of surviving a sudden cardiac arrest increases significantly, by more than double, when CPR is started early. However, CPR is essentially used to “buy time” for a victim until the EMS arrive with a defibrillator. You will always want to get the victim hooked up to the AED as soon as possible and follow the directions given by voice prompts.

 

If you still have questions about CPR or the use of an AED, you can always leave us a comment, give us a call at 800-580-1375, or email us at customerservice@aedbrands.com

What is the difference between adult and pediatric pads?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pads, otherwise known as electrodes, are extremely crucial when it comes to a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) save. Once the pads are properly placed on the patient, a lifesaving shock therapy is delivered. In order for a shock to be delivered the pads must make proper contact with the patient’s skin. When the pads have good contact, the AED is able to correctly analyze the patient’s heart rhythm. But what makes adult pads so different from pediatric pads?

 

Just like there is a difference between the CPR you give an adult vs a child, there is also a difference between the shock that is delivered to an adult vs. a child. Child pads are designed to administer a smaller dose of therapy than adult pads. For children 55 lbs. or less, (typically 8 years and under), you want to be sure to use pediatric pads (or a pediatric key). For children greater than 55 lbs. or 8 years older, you want to use adult pads, as the reduced shock will likely not suffice.

 

The American Heart Association (AHA) states that in the event of an emergency, if there are no pediatric pads available you should place one adult pad on the front of the child and the other adult pad on the back of the child. You also want to be sure that you are keeping your pads up-to-date, because they do expire. Over time, the adhesive gel that acts as a bonding agent for a shock to be delivered begins to dry out and will no longer provide effective analysis and therapy.

 

If you still have questions about your AED pads, you can always leave us a comment, give us a call at 800-580-1375, or email us at customerservice@aedbrands.com

What questions should you ask before purchasing an AED for your workplace?

 

Having an AED program implemented in your work place could save lives. In fact, about 10,000 of the 350,000 of sudden cardiac arrest events occur at work. The questions you need to be asking in order to keep your facility rescue ready are:

 

1. How many AEDs should we have for our locations?

 You can determine how many AEDs your facility needs by getting a site assessment.

 

2. Where should AEDs be placed in our buildings?

Getting a site assessment will also determine where the AEDs need to be placed.

 

3. How will people quickly find an AED during a medical emergency?

By purchasing the proper signage with your AEDs, any responder will be able to clearly see where the facilities AEDs are located.

 

4. Who on our staff needs to be trained and who will manage our AEDs?

You can appoint those individuals that need to be trained to operate/manage the AEDs within your facility depending on your current state laws.

 

5. Are we properly inspecting and maintaining our AEDs?

If you would rather manually keep record of your monthly AED inspections, we offer inspection tags. If you would rather have a program that assists you with the record keeping of your AED, we offer a program called Accutrack.

 

 

If you still have questions about AEDs in the workplace, you can always leave us a comment, give us a call at 800-580-1375, or email us at customerservice@aedbrands.com

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