BY TOM CAIAZZA
Staff Writer
HOLMDEL – Committeeman Larry Fink is pushing to have automated external defibrillators (AED) available in municipal parks and buildings to enhance rapid response capabilities on township property.
Fink issued a press release touting the need for AEDs, citing hundreds of thousands of deaths in the United States are caused by cardiac arrest from abnormal heart rhythms. The AEDs are effective and safe ways to provide a level of hospital care on the scene before trained medical staff can arrive, he said.
AEDs provide measured electric pulses to the heart in order to compel the ailing muscle into an healthy rhythm. Unlike the hospital counterparts, the type of AED expected in Holmdel public facilities would provide commands for the user to follow in order to successfully administer the procedure.
Fink said that the AEDs are part of a larger public health initiative that includes the training of Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) to better address public health issues.
According to the release, AEDs are portable, lightweight and can be put in a variety of public settings. The price is between $1,500 and $2,000, which Fink said adds to its viability in Holmdel municipal buildings.
“The technology has improved so that virtually anyone can safely operate these devices,” Fink said. “So it is important to have them deployed at places throughout the town where the most people are.”
The proposed locations for the AEDs include town hall, the swim club, certain parks and park facilities and the Senior/Community Center, where it is common for large groups of people to congregate and engage in physical activity.
Currently, Holmdel police patrol cars come equipped with AEDs, according to Mike Simpson, Holmdel emergency management coordinator. Simpson said that patrol cars are often the first rescue services on the scene of a medical emergency, but that having AEDs there already could not hurt.
“They are something I would love to see out there, see them everywhere possible,” he said.
Simpson said that the placement of the AED would be crucial to the success of such a program. He suggested that the device be placed in a position that would make it free of possible vandals and as accessible as possible to the public.
Simpson used Cross Farm Park as an example.
“If it were inside the new building, so that if the building is locked, the AED is protected,” Simpson said. “I would hate to see it out there without protection from vandalism.”