Essex-Windsor EMS has launched a new initiative to get life-saving AEDs into the hands of organizers of events and gatherings across Windsor and Essex County.

Holding a big family reunion? A wedding? A fundraiser golf tournament? Any weekend sports tournament? Or any outsized gathering of people? Then you should strongly consider signing out – for free – an Automatic External Defibrillator from Essex-Windsor EMS.

These easy-to-use, life-saving devices are now available for temporary use at short-term, one-off events or gatherings, especially those taking place in outdoor venues or places and circumstances where immediate access to an AED might be unknown, uncertain, or unreasonably too far away.

Minutes matter when someone suffers cardiac arrest and interventions by passersby and fellow event goers with quick access to AEDs can mean the difference between life and death.

“If you apply a defibrillator to someone’s chest in the first 60 seconds of a cardiac arrest, their chances of surviving increase by 90%,” said Dave Thibodeau of Essex-Windsor EMS. “With every minute that passes after that, the chances decrease by 10%.”

An AED is a portable electronic device that can restart the heart of a person – of any age – who experiences cardiac arrest. The device monitors the patient’s heartbeat and, if necessary, can deliver one or more heart-resuscitating electric shocks.

Even those without medical training can follow an AED’s simple instructions to try to save a life. EWEMS’ loaner, ZOLL-brand AEDs are so user-friendly and cutting edge that, unlike many earlier models, these not only play simple, precise audio instructions out of the device’s speaker, but flash word instructions simultaneously on the device’s electronic viewing screen – meaning the hearing impaired, too, can now save a life using an AED.

The intent of EWEMS’ new loaner program is to make AEDs and first-aid tools even more accessible and available throughout Windsor and Essex County – for a weekend, or just for special, one-day gatherings. Bear in mind that few of the estimated 2,000-plus AEDs scattered throughout Essex County are readily accessible 24/7.

EWEMS’ loaner AEDs are stored in backpacks for maximum portability. Also stocked in each backpack are simple emergency-use instructions, a naloxone kit (nasally administered spray, to temporarily reverse the effects of a potential opioid overdose) and various first-aid items needed, such as a tourniquet, to stop bleeding.

Essex-Windsor EMS loans out up to four AED backpacks per approved event – again, without any rental fees – to any group that qualifies after having completed an application, in advance. One condition of approval is there must be at least one person on site where the AEDs would be used who possesses current First Aid and/or CPR training. Preferably, that credentialed person is the one who picks up the AED(s), so as to be briefed by EMS on the device, plus other backpack contents.

In some circumstances, Essex-Windsor EMS might still loan out an AED if no one in the loaning group is credentialed in First Aid or CPR training. In that case, however, at least one person in the group – ideally more – must attend a two-hour education session given by EWEMS on how to properly use an AED. This session would not certify any such participant in either First Aid or CPR.

Applications for loaner AEDs must be received at least five business days prior to an event. Essex-Windsor EMS determines how many AEDs are required for each approved request. As of now, EMS has four backpacks to loan out.

Learn more about the AED loaner program and fill out an online form to get one for your event or gathering: https://www.countyofessex.ca/emergency-services/automated-external-defibrillators/aed-loaner-program/

AED Mapping

Thank you to the residents and business owners of Windsor, Essex County and Pelee Island for helping Essex-Windsor EMS map the AEDs in our region. Mapping and registering AEDs is vital so that dispatchers can alert 911 callers to the closest defibrillator to their location. Everyone has the potential to be a life-saver if they can access an AED when someone suffers an instance of cardiac arrest.

There were only about 560 AEDs registered in our region when Essex-Windsor EMS launched a crowdsourcing campaign in April of last year and encouraged the community to download the free PulsePoint app and upload pictures and locations of AEDs.

There are now about 1,400 AEDs that have been mapped and registered. They are at schools, workplaces, gyms, sports venues and all other manner of indoor and outdoor gathering spots. The Central Ambulance Communications Centre will know where they are when they receive a 911 call. 

There are still hundreds of AEDs that need to be registered. If you know where an unmapped AED device is located, you can use the free PulsePoint app and add it to the Essex-Windsor EMS map, at https://aedregistry.pulsepoint.org/index.php

“This is the problem. We responded to 831 cardiac arrests in Windsor, Essex County and Pelee Island last year. And with more than 2,000 public defibrillators out there, only five were used out of 831 cardiac arrests. We need to get people more comfortable with taking these things out of the cabinet, off the wall, applying them and using them before we get there,” said Thibodeau.

“We need people to start using these AEDs. And we have enough of them out there, and we know where enough of them are. If you call 911 when someone suffers a cardiac arrest, with most AEDs our dispatcher knows exactly where it is located within a building, and will tell the caller exactly where to go to get it – then instruct the rescuer how to use it until we can get there.”

Cardiac Champions

Businesses, organizations and groups of individuals across Essex County and Windsor are making a difference by fundraising, purchasing AEDs and learning how to use them. Essex-Windsor EMS recognizes them with Cardiac Champion Awards.

If you are a business or a community group looking to fundraise for an AED, purchase an AED or train your employees or group members in their use, contact Essex-Windsor EMS and become a Cardiac Champion.

AEDs in Action

An AED is a sophisticated yet easy-to-use electronic device that that can be used to restart a person’s heart if it has stopped beating. Survival rates following instances of sudden cardiac arrest improve dramatically if a shock from a defibrillator is received within three minutes of collapse and decrease every minute after that.

“It first will perform what we call an analysis,” Thibodeau said, “and if it wants to deliver a shock, it will prompt the rescuer to push a button. Then immediately after the shock is delivered, the AED tells the rescuer to perform two minutes of CPR. The machine times the two minutes automatically, and at the two-minute mark it tells the rescuer to stop. The AED then will reanalyze and look for heart rhythm, and if it wants the rescuer to shock again, it will tell them to push that button again. Or, if there’s still no rhythm at all, it will tell them to continue with another two minutes of CPR. At every two-minute interval the AED will always do an analysis to see if a shock is appropriate or not.”

Importantly, Thibodeau said anyone attempting to revive someone whose heart has stopped “can’t be sued, can’t do anything wrong. They’re not going to harm a cardiac-arrest victim further. These misconceptions are some of the obstacles we’re trying to overcome.”

For more information on AEDs or the AED loaner program, email Essex-Windsor EMS at defib@countyofessex.ca.

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Visit our AED Loaner Program page and sign out an AED!