As a New Jersey resident, Monmouth County health-care professional and American Heart Association volunteer, I am writing to respectfully ask the support of our local media and New Jersey senators to help bring New Jersey Senate Bill S-1106 to the full Senate for a vote. If passed, this legislation could over time save untold numbers of New Jersey lives by requiring all New Jersey health clubs and fitness centers to have automated external defibrillators (AEDs) on site and staff properly trained to use the devices.
According to a study published in "Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association," health clubs/fitness centers are among the top 10 public places with the highest occurrence of sudden cardiac arrest (sudden death), which is different from a heart attack. The number of Americans who exercise regularly at fitness clubs has increased steadily in recent years, as has their age. In March 2002, a joint scientific statement from the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association urged fitness clubs throughout the country to install defibrillators (AEDs) and train staff to use them. The American Heart Association is aware of at least five lives that have been saved in New Jersey during the past three years at health clubs and fitness centers equipped with an AED program. Those health clubs and fitness centers took the initiative to implement an AED program and should be applauded. But they are in the minority in the Garden State
I urge our local senators and the primary sponsors of S-1106, Sens. Andrew Ciesla, Shirley Turner and John Adler, to place S-1106 on the agenda for a vote by the New Jersey Senate. Join with the American Heart Association to strengthen New Jersey’s "chain of survival" and improve the chance of survival from sudden cardiac arrest.
Robert J. Sposato, L.P.N.
American Heart Association
task force volunteer
Monmouth County Operation Heartbeat
CPR Training Center
coordinator
CentraState Medical Center Health Awareness Center
Freehold Township