DeFibAmerica - Fixing the broken link in the Cardiac Chain of Survival in Rural America
RURAL AMERICANS Come together!
It takes a few hours to get the life saving skills to use an AED and give CPR, a couple more hours and you can control bleeding and offer life saving first aid...
Neighbor helping neighbor when seconds count!
Can your neighbors count on you!
DeFib America is about building strong communities of caring people!
Who would believe Fountain County Indiana, would be the birth place of such change! But don't wait for us, start your own effort in your State...
Change is a beautiful thing!
12/17/2012 Fountain Co. IN is First!
Fountain County Indiana commissioners passed ordinance 2012-9 using their power granted by Ind Code 36-8-23 to become the first county to recognize a community fast responder service "Three Minutes to DeFibrillation in Rural America....
See below for a copy of the ordinance.
20 minutes is 200% dead, 3 minutes gives rural America a Chance!
Every minute an AED is delayed, that is the 3rd link in the chain of Cardiac Survival, is 10% less chance of living another day.
American cities, airports, and businesses are deploying AED's, Automated External Defibrillators, with tremendous results. The best of the best are seeing 70% save rates. Thirty to Seventy percent save rates for sudden cardiac arrest to discharge from the hospital is a fantastic result of the AED technology being used in a very timely fashion. But in rural America it can take 20 minutes for an Ambulance to show up with an AED, that is 200% dead. Living in rural America doesn't have to be a death sentence. Rural American's have a long tradition of looking out for each other. When the Cows are out, we know who to call and often help get the cows back in the fenced pasture.
With today's ubiquitous 911 mapping dispatch systems, easy to use, low cost, AED technology; Cell and Texting systems, we can now deploy AED's in the hands of "FAST RESPONDERS" that is a neighbor willing and trusted by neighbors to give that lifesaving hand in the most urgent time of need, a cardiac arrest. DeFib America, Three Minutes to Defibrillation in Rural America, Inc. is working to change rural America... to bring live saving help in minutes, so Ambulance (EMT's and Paramedics) crews have a live patient to work with as they complete the chain of cardiac survival. All the best trained med-evac helicopters crews, EMT's, surgeons, and paramedics, will fail without the efforts of a Fast Responder with an AED arriving in minutes and giving CPR and heart regrouping shock.
Think of a tick-tack-toe grid, every Fast Responder is backed up by eight other Fast Responders to insure a volunteer is nearly always available, day and night. Each square represents a 3 x 3 mile area, with an AED/First Aid Kit equipped Fast Responder in the middle. They may never deploy, or they might be called on a couple times a year, but when the call comes they need to be trained and act, act to do the right thing when minutes count!